Fact-Check: Old Video Of Protest Against PM Modi in US Shared as Recent

A viral video of a protest showing an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a garland made out of shoes around its neck is being shared on social media.

What is the claim?: The video is being shared to claim that PM Modi's recent visit to the US was met with protests, and was shared the hashtags #ModiInAmerica and #ModiNotWelcome.

• It was shared on Twitter by Hitendra Pithadiya, whose bio reads Chairman of the Gujarat Congress' Schedule Castes (SC) department.

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

What is the truth?: The viral video of the protest is from 27 September 2019 and is being shared as recent in light of the Prime Minister's visit to the USA.

• The protest was held in New York on the day when PM Modi was scheduled to speak at the United Nations General Assembly.

• The protests were against the blockade and human rights violation in Kashmir.

How did we find out?: We used InVid's tool to get the keyframes of the viral video.

• We ran a reverse image search which established that the video is from New York, because of the signboard read "E 47 St."

• We put this address on Google Maps which took us to "East 47th Street, New York."

• Next, we used keywords such as "Anti-Modi Protests New York."

• We came across multiple posts with same video from 2019.

Protests against Modi in 2019: We conducted a Google search to find news reports and coverage on the same.

• We came across a brief by a website named Stand With Kashmir about the protest that was to be held against PM Modi because of blockade and human rights violation in Kashmir.

• The address in the brief read: "Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, East 47th Street between UN Plaza & 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10017"

• We also came across photographs by Reuters that had similar visuals of the effigy as the viral video.

Recent protests during Prime Minister Modi's USA Tour in 2023:

• US Congresspersons, Rashida Tlaib, IIhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush and Kweisi Mfume boycotted PM Modi's joint Congress sessions citing reasons of his government's intolerance towards criticism, oppression of minorities and the press.

• The Quint reported on the people behind organsing protests against PM Modi.

• Around 18 organisations from differing backgrounds had planned to organise these protests during the PM's three day visit to the USA.

Conclusion: The viral video is from 2019 and is being shared as recent in light of the Prime Minister Modi's visit to the USA.

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