No, world leaders did not snub PM Modi; video shared by UP Congress is misleading

by Oishani Bhattacharya

The official X handle of Uttar Pradesh Congress recently shared a video consisting of short clips from three different events showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with three world leaders — UK PM Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel — with the suggestion that all the three ignored PM Modi while he had tried to shake hands with them.

‘Modi Snubbed by Macron’ Claim Viral in February as well

A 14-second clip from an AI Action Summit in Paris featuring French President Emmanuel Macron with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went viral on social media in February 2025. The clip was being shared with the claim that Macron ignored Modi when the latter reached out for a handshake.

The Modi-Macron video now shared by UP Congress is taken from here.

The summit, hosted by France in Paris and co-chaired by PM Modi, was held between February 6 and 11.

The clip was shared by the Congress Karnataka handle on X on February 11 with the claim that the French President insulted the Indian Prime Minister. (Archive)

Congress worker and former president of Youth Congress, Srinivas BV, also shared the clip with a caption in Hindi, which mockingly said: “ED should take cognizance… did not shake hands with Vishwaguru!” (Archive)

The post garnered 1.5 million views and was reshared more than 4,000 times.

Another verified X user, @RoshanKrRaii, shared the clip claiming the Indian Prime Minister had “started waving to cover up” after being ignored by Macron’. (Archive)

The post had more than 570,000 views and was reshared over 1,300 times.

Several social media users circulated the short video reiterating that this was a major snub for the Indian leader. Below are a few instances.

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Fact Check

To check the authenticity of this clip, we first looked at the live stream of the summit uploaded by news agency Associated Press on February 11.

At the 8:39-minute mark, PM Modi and President Macron can be seen walking together to the venue where world leaders are seated. As they enter, they greet various dignitaries.

At the 9:48-minute mark, Macron is seen speaking with US Vice President JD Vance, while PM Modi is seated nearby. The viral footage in question has been clipped from the 9:56-minute mark, which social media users claim shows Macron ignoring Modi, who apparently extended his hand towards Macron for a greeting.

After carefully analysing the clip, we found that it’s not exactly clear whether PM Modi extended his hand toward Macron in greeting or gestured whether he should step aside as the French President approached to greet the person seated in the row behind. But in either case, Macron did not ignore Modi at the summit because the two leaders had already greeted each other and taken photographs before entering the venue together. Images from that day shared by PM Modi’s official X handle corroborate this:

Further, at the 11:39-minute mark, after greeting other leaders, Macron even walks over to Modi and sits beside him.

Also, around the 17:13-minute mark of the AP live stream, when Macron invites Modi to the podium to address the leaders as co-chair of the summit, the two shake hands and embrace. An image of this was also shared from Modi’s X handle.

Source: X/ @narendramodi

Additionally, Macron shared a video on X where he warmly welcomes and greets PM Modi after he lands in Paris.

Thus the claim that the French president snubbed or showed disrespect towards the Indian Prime Minister is baseless. An overview of their exchange throughout this summit disproves this. The viral video has been clipped and shows the part after the two leaders had already met and exchanged pleasantries to give the false impression that something was amiss.

The Modi-Merkel Clip

The last part of the video shared by UP Congress shows PM Modi extending his arm for a handshake, but Angela Merkel pointing towards something else, instead of shaking hands with him. The video is from Berlin, 2017, where PM Modi met the then German Chancellor. We found that the short clip, which seemingly shows Merkel not reciprocating Modi’s handshake offer, had been viral several times in the past with similar misleading claims. Independent fact-checkers debunked these claims in the past.

For example, a fact check by The Quint shows that seconds after the alleged ‘snub’, Modi and Merkel shook hands standing in front of the National Flags of the two countries. When Modi had first extended his arm, Merkel did not refuse the handshake, but, instead, directed him to the space designated for the ceremonial photo op a few steps to Modi’s right, where photographers had been waiting. Once they moved to that spot, the two leaders vigorously shook hands.

The Modi-Stermer Clip

The Modi-Stremer clip, too, is clipped and misleading. When the two leaders met at the Chequers Estate in London on July 25, they shook hands and hugged each other.

The initial few seconds from the above video has been cut out to make it appear in the clip shatred by UP Congress that British PM ignored Modi’s gesture.

To sum up, all the three clips that are part of the video shared by UP Congress are misleading in nature. When seen in their entirety, they show that none of the world leaders snubbed PM Narendra Modi.

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