On August 5, 2024, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India following a student-led mass uprising. In this context, two videos have been circulated on social media claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked, “Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh as Prime Minister,” after opposition leaders questioned her stay in India during a parliamentary session. Although the circulated videos are different, they appear to be from the same day and the same event.
See such videos circulated on Facebook here (Archive), here (Archive), and here (Archive).
See the same video on Instagram here (Archive).
See a different video with the same claim on YouTube here (Archive).
Fact-check
Rumor Scanner’s investigation found that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make any statement in the Indian Parliament saying, “Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh as Prime Minister.” In reality, a video was created by combining several pieces of footage from a special Lok Sabha session held to mark the 150th anniversary of the national song, ‘Vande Mataram’, and was circulated with the false claim.
During the investigation into this claim, no evidence of such a comment by Narendra Modi in the Indian Parliament was found in Indian or local media, or any other reliable source.
Subsequently, a reverse image search of several keyframes from the video led to a video published on the official YouTube channel of Sansad TV (India’s parliamentary channel) on December 8.
A review of the published video shows that several segments of footage match exactly with the footage of Narendra Modi in the viral video. Essentially, the viral video was created by cutting certain clips from the original footage. The title of the original video indicates that it is a recording of Narendra Modi’s special speech during a Lok Sabha session commemorating the 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’. While he is heard discussing the history of the national song and various related issues, there is no mention of Sheikh Hasina.
Furthermore, the report published on the Indian Prime Minister’s official website regarding his speech that day does not support the claim either.
Indian fact-checkers informed Rumor Scanner that since August last year, the opposition has raised the issue of Sheikh Hasina in various Lok Sabha sessions in different ways. Questions were also raised during the current winter session. However, PM Modi has never spoken on the matter.
Therefore, the claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked in the Indian Parliament that “Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh as Prime Minister” is completely false.
Sources
- Sansad TV YouTube Channel: PM Modi’s Remarks | 150th Anniversary of the National Song ‘’VANDE MATARAM”.
- PM India Website: PM addresses special discussion in Lok Sabha on 150 years of Vande Mataram
- Rumor Scanner’s Analysis