A video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi making an appearance on stage while the audience cheers for him is viral on social media. It is being claimed that PM Modi has been appointed as the “chairperson of 153 countries”.

 

#जयश्रीराम
मोदी जी को 153देशो का अध्यक्ष चुना गया मुझे गर्व है मेरे देश के शेर पर विदेशो मे कोई भारत को जानता नही था आज मोदी वहा का मुख्या है *—*👇🏽👇🏽

Posted by Anamika Agrawal on Sunday, 20 June 2021

The video is viral on both Facebook and Twitter with the claim since 2018.

It is also accompanied by sub captions that say, “Haters of PM Modi won’t be able to watch this video, and lovers of Modi won’t scroll down without liking and sharing the video.”

[Translated from: मोदीजी के विरोधक ये विडियो देख नहीं पाएंगे और मोदीजी के समर्थक इस विडियो को लाइक और शेयर किये बिना निचे नहीं जा पाएँगे]

Alt News has also received multiple requests to verify the clip on its official mobile application (Android, iOS) and its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160).

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Fact-check

We took a keyframe of the video and performed a reverse image search on Yandex. This led us to the same video uploaded on YouTube in 2018. The original clip was posted on the official YouTube account of Narendra Modi.

The event was streamed live in September 2015 when PM Modi addressed the Indian American community at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. According to reports by Business Standard, it was the second day of PM Modi’s trip to the West Coast. “The only ‘news’ amidst the rhetoric was that soon Air India is going to be offering direct flights from San Francisco to New Delhi three times a week. Modi made the announcement after he finished his hour-long speech,” the report added.

The second claim of the viral message – Narendra Modi has been made the chairperson of 153 countries – is absurd, to say the least. No such position where the head of a country acts as chairperson for hundreds of other countries can exist.

We found a Quora post from three years ago enquiring if PM Modi was indeed appointed for such a role. This shows that the claim has been circulating for quite some time. The Quint had published a similar fact-check debunking the claim that PM Modi was made the chairperson of a forum that included 53 countries.

Hence, an old video of PM Modi addressing the Indian American community in 2015 was shared with the false claim that he was made the chairperson of 153 countries.

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About the Author

Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc