Social media users are sharing a video amid a diplomatic row between India and the Maldives over derogatory and 'anti-India' remarks made by the Maldives minister against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the video, people wore masks depicting PM Modi with a garland of slippers around their necks.
“Procession by Jihadi's in Maldives insulting OUR Prime Minister. *All Indians should boycott Maldives.” Read the caption.
A similar post can be seen here.
SouthCheck found the claim to be misleading. The video is old.
On doing a Google Reverse Image Search with one of the screenshots, we found a similar screenshot was uploaded by Scroll with a caption, “At the demonstrations on Thursday, some of the protestors wore masks depicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while others held banners that read, “India Out”.” The news was published on July 1, 2023.
A Twitter user had also shared the video on June 29, 2023.
Hindustan Times had also shared the same video on its Facebook page on July 1, 2023. The report suggested that Maldivians were decrying India Out, a campaign organised by country's opposition on the occasion of Eid-Al-Adha.
However, Maldives foreign ministry that time issued a statement denouncing the agitation. A report by Hindustan Times said that the Maldivian government had then called the campaign a "dishonourable act and attempt to provoke hatred."
The report also suggested that the act of using mask of Narendra Modi during the protests was slammed by the Maldivian government who bashed the opposition and said it firmly stands by its "India First" policy.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video is old and is being shared out of context.
