No, this is not a ‘rare’ video of young Narendra Modi doing Yoga

A black and white video of a man doing yoga has been making the rounds on social media. “Identify this ascetic who later become Prime Minister. A rare and amazing video…you will be surprised. (पहचानिये इस तपस्वी को जो आगे चलकर प्रधानमंत्री बना। एक दुर्लभ और अद्भुत विडीयो…आप भी आश्चर्यचकित रह जाएंगे),” wrote Facebook page ‘सम्राट धना भारती जी के दीवाने’.

It has been shared on Twitter as well.

जरा पहचानिए इस तपस्वी को जो आगे चलकर देश का प्रधानमंत्री बना 👇👇और जिसकी तपस्या ने देश की दशा और दिशा दोनो बदलकर रख दी
एक दुर्लभ और अद्भुत वीडियो जिसको देख कर आप सभी आश्चर्यचकित रह जाएंगे#एकयोगी #एक_अवतार
💐💐🌹🌹🙏🙏
Contd 2 pic.twitter.com/bEM7FJGBWq

— 🇮🇳 Rajesh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@Rajesh201963) March 16, 2021

The video was also shared by several users in March.

पहचानिये इस तपस्वी को जो आगे चलकर प्रधानमंत्री बना।
एक दुर्लभ और अद्भुत विडीयो…आप भी आश्चर्यचकित रह जाएंगे..! 👇 pic.twitter.com/y1c3IZTJsw

— 🕉Jiten Bhardwaj🇮🇳#TTG (@Jiten384444) March 8, 2021

Narendra Modi fans and We Support Kangana Ranaut were among the Facebook pages where the clip was circulated.

Akash RSS, who has previously spread false news on various occasions, had shared the video last year with the claim that the man is PM Modi.

The viral messages say that the ‘secret’ to Narendra Modi’s success is yoga. One such post by Facebook user Navraj Kumai Moudgalya read, “A rare yoga video of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi at 35 years old. Mahatma Narendra Damodar Das Modi has achieved success after a lot of hard work and perseverance. Hail India.” This video had garnered 2,700 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)

Another Facebook user shared the viral clip with a Gujarati caption.

Twitter user @ShakunthalaHS tweeted this video with a Kannada message where it garnered 1,200 views before it was taken down (archived link). The clip has also made its way to Facebook and Alt News received requests to fact-check the video on the Alt News official android app.

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Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search of a few frames of the video and found a YouTube video uploaded on May 31, 2009. It states that the men featured in the clip are Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar and Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. According to the caption, this video is from the year 1938. It is worth mentioning that Narendra Modi was born on September 17, 1950.

Next, a keyword search led us to another video from May 12, 2006. Scenes from the viral clip are seen in this video. According to the caption, the person doing yoga is BKS Iyengar, eminent yoga teacher known as the father of the yoga style Iyengar Yoga.

By comparing screenshots from the viral video and this YouTube clip, we established that the person featured in both is Iyengar.

We also compared screenshots from the viral clip with pictures of BKS Iyengar on his official website.

Therefore, a 1938 video of yoga guru BKS Iyengar, considered the father of modern yoga, is being falsely shared as a young Narendra Modi.