Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Members of crowd heckling PM Narendra Modi at an event during his 2023 US visit.
Fact
Viral video is of the “Howdy Modi” event held in Texas in September 2019.
Several social media users are sharing a video, where you can hear members of the audience hurling abuses in Punjabi at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on stage purportedly during an event in the United States of America (USA) as part of his ongoing four-day state visit.
PM Narendra Modi In The US
The trip (June 21-24) is a high-profile affair, complete with a banquet at the White House hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden and an address to the US Congress, reportedly making Modi the first Indian prime minister to speak in front of the legislature twice. Modi is set to sign deals across sectors, including defence.
Also Read: Photo Of PM Modi Looking Inappropriately At Rihanna Is Digitally Manipulated
Fact Check
Newschecker checked the itinerary of the PM’s state visit, as reported by multiple news outlets. According to a Business Today report, Modi will address the Indian-American community at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC, seemingly the lone diaspora outreach programme during the visit. Other news reports confirming the same can be seen here, here and here. The diaspora event is scheduled for June 23, while the viral video has been on the internet since June 21, raising our doubts. According to the itinerary, Modi’s visit commenced from New York, where he led the celebrations of the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations Headquarters on June 21, following which he met several thought leaders and business magnates.
A reverse image search of keyframes of the video led us to multiple suggestions that the event shown in the viral video was the “Howdy Modi” programme, a community summit hosted by Texas India Forum (TIF) for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then President of the United States Donald Trump on Sunday, September 22, 2019, at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
A tweet shared by Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Rooms, dated September 24, 2019, has a photo showing the flags of the two countries with a screen above them, similar to a frame (right) in the viral video.
A comparison of a keyframe (right) of the viral video, particularly the PM’s attire, with a screenshot of the Youtube video of the “Howdy Modi” programme, live-streamed by the PMO on September 22, 2019, confirms the viral video is of the 2019 Texas event.
A relevant keyword search then led us to another, slightly longer, version of the viral video, this time without the abuses, uploaded on Facebook on September 24, 2021.
A comparison with the viral video hints that another audio track could have been dubbed over the pro-India slogans, although we could not completely ascertain it. Moreover, we could not find any credible reports of crowd abuse directed towards the PM during the 2019 Texas event.
Also Read: Old, Unrelated Images Shared Claiming To Show Anti-Modi Posters In US Amid PM’s Visit
Conclusion
A video of the 2019 ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston, Texas has been falsely linked to PM Narendra Modi’s 2023 state visit to the US.
Result: False
Sources
Video analysis
Business Today report, June 20, 2023
Youtube video, PMO India, September 2019
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
