A 30-second clip of Narendra Modi waving at the crowd at a rally is being shared by BJP politicians, including Amit Malviya and Priti Gandhi, with some claiming that the video was shot in Kutch and others suggesting it is from Mangaluru. PM Modi held a roadshow in Bhuj in Kutch district on August 28, 2022 after inaugurating the Narmada canal. He visited Mangaluru on September 2 where he laid the foundation stone for projects worth ₹3,800 crores.
Amit Malviya tweeted the video on September 2 with the hashtag #Mangaluru, indicating that the video was shot in Manguluru. He later deleted the video. (Archived link)
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, the state general secretary of BJP Andhra Pradesh, too, shared the video, claiming that it was shot in Mangaluru. (Archived link)
#Modi #Mangaluru ❤️ @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/eJC9vuVZF6
— Vishnu Vardhan Reddy (@SVishnuReddy) September 2, 2022
Local journalist Suraj Suresh shared the same video with the caption, “Here’s how PM Modi was greeted in Mangaluru today”. (Archived link)
Here’s how PM Modi was greeted in Mangaluru today pic.twitter.com/XuPHYeu7sC
— Suraj Suresh (@Suraj_Suresh16) September 2, 2022
BJP politician Priti Gandhi had tweeted the same video on August 28 (the day of the Bhuj roadshow) with the caption, “This is the rousing welcome that the people of #Kutch gave our Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi ji today. Unimaginable fervour!!” (Archived link)
This is the rousing welcome that the people of #Kutch gave our Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi ji today. Unimaginable fervour!!#KutchWelcomesPMModi pic.twitter.com/LXqvKceUSt
— Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) August 28, 2022
Fact-Check
Through a reverse image search and keyword search, Alt News found that the same video had been uploaded in April 2019 after an election rally in West Bengal. Interestingly, both Priti Gandhi and Amit Malviya had tweeted the video in 2019 after the rally in Kolkata. (Archived links- 1,2)
The video was also posted by the official handle of @BJP4India on April 3, 2019 with the caption, “Electrifying atmosphere at PM Shri @narendramodi’s public meeting in Kolkata”. (Archived link)
Electrifying atmosphere at PM Shri @narendramodi‘s public meeting in Kolkata. #DeshKeLiyeModi pic.twitter.com/m7Xwc7R1bS
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 3, 2019
PM Modi’s official handle, too, had tweeted the video on April 3, 2019, with the same caption, stating that the video was shot in Kolkata. (Archived link)
Electrifying atmosphere at PM @narendramodi‘s rally at Kolkata. #DeshKeLiyeModi pic.twitter.com/CByv1i6OS3
— narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) April 3, 2019
Below we have compared stills from the 2019 video and the 2022 video. They are evidently the same video.
The video of the Kolkata rally was also uploaded by the official YouTube channel of Bharatiya Janata Party. The Modi chant can be heard at 3:36 of the video while Modi is seen waving at the crowd.
Hence it is evident that an old video from a BJP rally in Kolkata was shared as recent by BJP politicians, including Amit Malviya and Priti Gandhi with varying claims. Some suggested that the video was shot in Kutch while others shared it as a video from Mangaluru. Both Malviya and Gandhi had shared the same video in 2019 after the Kolkata rally.
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