Old Claim About Sam Pitroda Organising an 'Anti-Modi' Rally in NYC Revived

In 2019, Sam Pitroda clarified on his X page that the news was "wrong".

Fact-Check: Pitroda clarified on his X account that the news was 'wrong.'

(Source: The Quint) 

A social media post going viral claims that Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) Chairman Sam Pitroda requested the New York Police Department (NYPD) for permission and space to organise an ‘anti-Modi rally’ along with some 'Pakistanis and Khalistanis'.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

We received a query about this on our WhatsApp tipline number.

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

Is this true?: The claim has been viral since 2019, however, there has been no no evidence to prove that the claim is true

• Pitroda took to his X (formerly Twitter) account and mentioned that it was ‘wrong news’ in 2019.

What we found: We first ran a relevant keyword search and came across a post from 2019 on the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sambit Patra X account.

• It read, “Such is the Shamelessness of @INCIndia that the New York Police Dept had to club the Overseas Congress demand to protest against Modi in New York along with Pakistan." (sic.)

• It included a YouTube link which has since been deleted.

Here is the preview of the YouTube link.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot) 

• BJP's Nupur Sharma also posted this on her X account in 2019.

• The keyword search also led us to a post by Pitroda, where he responded to a post of an X user making the same claim and said that it was “Wrong news”.

• We also came across a news report in news agency Asian News International ANI’s that said, “The New York City Police has said that anti-Modi rally permits were requested by three organisations, including a coalition of Pakistan-backed organisations. A total of 7,000 people are expected to participate in the protests.”

• Another report by Al Jazeera noted how Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the United Nations met with criticism and protests outside the headquarters in New York City against human rights violations in India and especially, Kashmir.

• None of these reports noted Pitroda's and the IOC's involvement in the calling of the rallies.

Conclusion: The claim stating that Pitroda organised an 'anti-Modi' protest in New York in 2019 is unsubstantiated.

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