On September 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Madhya Pradesh, where elections are scheduled, and delivered a speech to a large Bharatiya Janata Party rally. A day after the event, Rohan Gupta (Archived link), the Indian National Congress’s spokesperson, tweeted a 14-second video of PM Modi’s speech in Bhopal. The video’s goal was to showcase empty chairs, implying a lower turnout at the event. In a sarcastic tone, the accompanying caption in Hindi stated, “The significant gathering at the Prime Minister’s public meeting in Madhya Pradesh indicates that the exit of the Shivraj government is inevitable.”
Besides, the Congress supporter, going by the display name Venisha G kiba (Archived link), also shared the same 14-second video and wrote, “This is PM Modi’s rally in Madhya Pradesh. A massive public gathering is here to listen to our PM.” Again, this was the sarcastic jibe thrown at the PM.
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Fact Check
In the 14-second video that surfaced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on a screen rather than on the stage, raising suspicions about the video’s accuracy. In response to these doubts, our team undertook research and visited both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official YouTube channels.
As the viral claim claimed that the video is from Madhya Pradesh, we watched the recent rally video of Madhya Pradesh on PM’s YouTube channel, where we found PM Modi’s recent rally in Bhopal. On comparing the decoration and arrangement of the venue in both videos we found that they are from the same place. This comparison proved that the 14-second video clip claiming empty chairs was actually taken from the Bhopal rally event.
Furthermore, an important detail emerged in the video clip shared to claim the empty seats at the event. Notably, Prime Minister Modi’s speech was telecasted on a big screen in the 10-second time frame, indicating that this was a post-event broadcast rather than a pre-event broadcast. In such events, the speech is always telecasted after the event is over. As a result, the empty chairs can be seen.
Besides, in a speech broadcast on a large screen in a viral video, Prime Minister Modi can be heard saying, “Humari koshish yahi rahi ki behno ki samruddhi ka raasta khule.” We established that in the video uploaded on the PM’s YouTube page, the Prime Minister says the same statement in a time frame of 35 minutes and 36 seconds. Additionally, just 5 seconds before the Prime Minister says the same statement, the camera captures the crowd enthusiastically cheering for him around the time frame of 35 minutes and 27 seconds.
Further, after examining the whole video of the event on the Prime Minister’s YouTube channel, we concluded that the claim about vacant seats at the Madhya Pradesh rally was misleading and untrue. A close inspection of the video’s multiple time frames revealed that a large and enthusiastic audience was there, displaying their support for the Prime Minister.
Here are the few snapshots of the crowd cheering for the PM in Bhopal rally:
In further research, some pictures of the Madhya Pradesh rally were found on the Twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which it can be clearly seen that a huge crowd was present to listen to the PM.
Hence, based on the information and facts provided, it can be concluded that the claim about the empty chairs at the Prime Minister’s rally in Madhya Pradesh is misleading. This is not the first incidence; in the past, supporters or members of the Congress party have disseminated footage from post-events, claiming that Prime Minister Modi did not have a large audience.
| Claim | There were empty chairs at PM Modi’s rally in Madhya Pradesh |
| Claimed by | Rohan Gupta and Venisha G kiba |
| Fact Check | Misleading and False |
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