US Students Sing India’s National Anthem to Thank For HCQ? Uh, No.

The video was made on the occasion of Independence Day of India and dates back to 12 August 2017.

A viral video is being used to falsely claim that US students sang national anthem of India to thank for hydroxychloroquine.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

India had earlier in April decided to partially lift a ban on export of anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, paving the way for its supply to the US and several other countries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

CLAIM

Now, a video on social media is being widely circulated to claim that the students of United States of America have put together a video to thank India for supplying hydroxychloroquine to USA.

In the video, one can see several people coming together to sing the national anthem of India.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

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TRUE OR FALSE?

The claim shared along with the video is false. The video was made on the occasion of Independence Day of India and is not a recent video. It was uploaded on 12 August 2017.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We divided the video into multiple keyframes using InVid and then did a Google reverse search on them which led us to a Facebook post dated 15 August 2019, shared by one Antareep Hazarika.

The post carried the same viral video and was shared with a caption: “So glad to have produced the music for @ricksha_wali 's ‘Americans Sing the Indian National Anthem for the first time’ video. Still get goosebumps every time I watch this. Have a Happy Independence Day, folks. Jai Hind!”

We then searched for the Instagram handle @ricksha_wali and found that it is by the name of Anisha Dixit. On scanning her YouTube channel, we found that the same video was uploaded on 12 August 2017. The caption along with the video read: “Americans Sing the Indian National Anthem for the First Time | Rickshawali.”

At the beginning of the video, the text mentions, “Rickshawali decided to do something special, by uniting people from all over the world” to sing the national anthem of India.

The description also lists down the names of the YouTubers and artists in the video including Hazarika, who composed the music. “A Big Shoutout to Antareep Hazarika for composing this brilliant Music,” the description reads.

Clearly, an old video is being circulated to claim that students of USA have made the video as a gesture to thank India for supplying hydroxychloroquine to USA.

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