Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Houston for his mega-event ‘Howdy Modi’ on the night of September 21 to address a huge gathering at an event in Texas on September 22. Several media outlets covered his arrival and the upcoming events that were scheduled.
CNN News18 had tweeted a video of US army playing the Indian national anthem which they claimed was in preparation for PM Modi’s arrival at the Howdy Modi event. “Watch – US army playing the Indian national anthem in preparation for PM @narendramodi’s arrival at the #HowdyModi event,” read News18’s tweet.
The same video was also tweeted by CNBC Awaz.
Both News18 and CNBC Awaz have taken down their tweets but the video is viral on Facebook and Twitter.
Power of Shri @narendramodi ji..
USA will be playing Indian National Anthem on Modiji’s arrival..
Making India Great Again!! 🇮🇳
Proud of you 🇮🇳@PMOIndia#HowdyModi pic.twitter.com/aC8TW3AVZY
— Jigar B Desai (@JigarBDesaiBjp) September 22, 2019
It is also viral with a Kannada text – “ಅಮೇರಿಕಾ ಸೈನ್ಯ ವು ಮೊದಲ ಭಾರಿಗೆ ಭಾರತದ ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ಮೋದಿಯವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಾಗತ , ಗೌರವ ವಂದನೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲು ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಗೀತೆಯನ್ನು ಅಭ್ಯಾಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವುದು (The US Army is practising our country’s national anthem to welcome and pay homage to Indian Prime Minister Modi – Google translate.)”
US-India joint army training exercise
US Army band did play the Indian National Anthem, but it was during the concluding day of the Yudh Abhyas, a joint military training exercise of the Indian and US Army which was conducted at the Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington.
Manish Prasad, India TV Journalist covering Defence and National Security, was one of the firsts to tweet this video on September 19.
Proud Moment for Everyone. Our“National Anthem” played by @USArmy Band in Exercise #YudhAbhyas19 @adgpi @indiatvnews #IndianArmy#USArmy pic.twitter.com/gMmx2WCcWY
— Manish Prasad (@manishindiatv) September 19, 2019
It was also tweeted by ANI.
#WATCH USA: American Army band playing Indian National Anthem during the Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2019 at Joint Base Lewis, McChord. pic.twitter.com/J9weLpKD3X
— ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2019
A video of the US Army playing the Indian National Anthem during a joint military training exercise was shared by sections of mainstream media and social media as preparation for PM Modi’s event in Texas.