Bandra-Worli Sea Link inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi in 2009 credited to PM Modi

A photograph of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai has been shared on social media, with users crediting PM Narendra Modi for its construction. One such tweet by @REAL___HINDUVT racked up over 9,000 likes. (Archive link)

यह कोई अमेरीका फ़्रांस लन्दन का ब्रीज नही है यह बांद्रा के मुंबई का ब्रीज है, वाह मोदी जी pic.twitter.com/JaImibIbSO

— ‘सत्य सनातन’ (@REAL___HINDUVT) July 16, 2021

Several others posted the image on Facebook writing “waah Modiji waah” in the caption.

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Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search and Congress party leader Roshan Lal Bittu shared the image on July 6 as the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai. “Development by Congress,” he wrote.

We found links to a few other posts among the search results. An Instagram page named @mumbai7merijaan had posted the photo on March 28, 2020, attributing it to one Tapan Dave.

Dave had himself uploaded the picture to Instagram on June 7, 2020. The accompanying caption contained the hashtag #bandraworlisealink. A quick rummage through Dave’s Instagram account shows that he has photographed several other famous locations in Mumbai.

The Bandra-Worli Sea Link was constructed when the UPA government was in power. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had inaugurated the bridge on June 30, 2009. Several media reports had covered the event as well. One such video story by NewsX dated June 30, 2009, is posted below.

India Today also carries photos from the inauguration ceremony.

To sum up, Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea Link construction has nothing to do with either BJP or the prime minister. It was inaugurated in 2009 when Narendra Modi was not the prime minister. He took the seat in 2014. Apart from that, late Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray laid the foundation stone for the Sea Link in 1999, and it was inaugurated ten years later in 2009 by Sonia Gandhi.