Fact-Check: Misleading Claim That PM Modi Was Missing at BRICS Summit Viral

The viral video shows heads of delegations at the summit, not world leaders. EAM S Jaishankar was seen in this clip.

Fact-Check: There is enough visual evidence to prove PM Modi's presence at the summit

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing various world leaders posing for a photo op at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) summit is being shared on social media platforms.

• In this clip, host and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping along with India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar can be seen.

The claim: Those sharing wrote, "Where is the Vishwa Guru?" - referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Users insinuated that he was missing from the summit.

• Another template is being shared which features four images.

• Two from when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had attended the summit, showing him with other leaders.

• The other two show a screengrab from the viral clip and another featuring PM Modi with the text, "Modi is missing."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: No, the claim is misleading.

• The viral video shows the heads of delegations attending the summit. EAM Jaishankar was present as a representative from India.

• There is enough visual evidence to prove PM Modi's presence at the summit. A video showing PM Modi with other world leaders prove the same.

What we found: At first, we broke down the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across the same video on the Times of India's X account from 24 October. It noted, "EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Heads of delegations at Kazan Expo International Exhibition Center in Russia, at the 16th BRICS Summit in BRICS plus format. (sic)"

• It should be noted that the caption mentioned 'heads of delegation' and not 'world leaders'.

• News agency Asian News International (ANI) also posted the same video on their official X account.

• Similarly, Jaishankar also posted a series of images. One of them resembled a frame in the viral video. He noted, "Represented PM

  Narendra Modi at the BRICS Outreach session in Kazan today."

• We, then, undertook a relevant keyword search and came across a video by ANI featuring PM Modi with other world leaders at the summit.

• The agency noted, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders, at the family photo at Kazan Expo Center where BRICS Summit is about to begin." (sic.)

• PM Modi also posted a photo with other world leaders on his Facebook page and wrote that he attended the Summit in Kazan, Russia with other BRICS leaders. The caption also noted that the Summit stood out as new BRICS members were embraced.

Conclusion: Social media users have falsely claimed that PM Modi was missing at the BRICS summit.

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