Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently tweeted a comparison video showing the condition of Assam roads “before and after Modi government”. The clips of the potholed and waterlogged roads are captioned “Assam Roads Then”, and those showing good roads are captioned, “Assam Roads Now.” 

Fact Check

In the part of the video that apparently shows roads before the Modi government came to power, we spotted a car with the registration number AS01DT6808. Upon checking this registration number on the CarInfo website, Alt News found that the vehicle had been registered on August 2, 2018. This means that the video of the potholed road was not from before the Modi government came into power, but from 2018 or later, when the BJP was in power both in Assam and at the Centre.

BJP has been in power in the state since May 24, 2016, and at the Centre since May 26, 2014, with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

The video posted by Himanta Biswa Sarma was edited and flipped, so we have flipped it back in the screenshot below to display the car’s registration number correctly.

In the same video, a car with LED daytime running lamps (DRLs) resembling arrows can also be seen. Upon searching, we discovered that this vehicle is a Hyundai Grand i10 Nios Facelift launched in 2023. This model introduced the new DRL design. Several news websites and automotive magazines had also published reports about this new design. Therefore, the clip depicting the broken road, claimed by Himanta Biswa Sarma to be from before the Modi government, is actually from 2023 or later.

To sum it up, the clips of potholed and waterlogged roads tweeted by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as the condition of roads before the Modi government were definitely shot after the Modi government had come to power in 2014.   

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About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).