During the recent G20 summit hosted by India which was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP supporters praised the government and Modi for hosting such a major event for the first time in India.
In a counter claim, Congress supporters stormed the internet by sharing photos of former prime minister Indra Gandhi's video claiming to show Gandhi hosted the G20 summit 40 years before. Several social media users have shared a video in which former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi can be seen addressing a crowd of top leaders from several countries and greeting former Cuban President Fidel Castro. The users claim that Indra Gandhi was addressing G20 Summit.
In her address, Gandhi, as a prime minister and on behalf of India, welcomes leaders of over 100 sovereign nations in Delhi. She also mentions those present ‘represent half of the world’. Those sharing the video claim that the video clip shows the Congress government 40 years ago, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, hosting the G20 summit in Delhi Referring to the recently concluded G20 summit in Delhi under the leadership of PM Modi, an X user shared the video with the caption, “Smt. Indira Ji represented the G-20 meeting in Delhi 40 years ago. It is not the first time that we hosted the G20 meeting. Congress had done this work 40 years ago.” (Caption translated from Hindi)
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Southcheck probe found that the video clip is of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit hosted in Delhi between March 7-12, 1983, under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi.
We noticed the logo ‘Har Haath Shakti’ in the viral video. We looked for the same on social media and found the video posted on the Facebook page, ‘Har Haath Shakti’ on September 7. The caption stated that a bigger conference than the G20 Summit was organised in Delhi in 1983, which was called the Non-Aligned Summit.
Taking this as a cue, we ran a keyword search and came across a video published by a verified YouTube Channel of the Associated Press on March 14, 2022, titled “GS 07 03 1983 NON-ALIGNED NATIONS CONFERENCE BEGINS IN NEW DELHI.”
As per the description, the video is from March 16, 1983. It shows Indian Premier Indira Gandhi making the opening address during the 7th Summit of Non-aligned Nations. It also mentions then-Cuban President Fidel Castro handing over the baton of the summit to Indira Gandhi.
At the time of the Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was born in 1960 out of the interest of developing countries. The movement played a major role in decolonization, forming new independent states and democratizing international relations.
The seventh NAM Summit was hosted by India in 1983 under the chairmanship of Indira Gandhi. According to India Today, it was one of the largest gatherings in history attended by the representatives of 101 countries, including 60 heads of state and government representing two-thirds of humanity.
Group of 20 or G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis by leaders to discuss the global economy. It worked outside the public eye from 1999 to 2008. At the peak of the financial crisis, the first G20 leaders’ summit (the ‘Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy’) was convened in Washington DC, in November 2008.
As a forum for international economic cooperation, it plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
The viral video of Indira Gandhi dates back to 1983, and the G20 Forum was founded in 1999. Hence, we conclude that the claim that India hosted the G20 summit under the chairmanship of Indira Gandhi is false.