Edited Image Of Pakistan Street Peddled As Chowk Named After PM Modi

An image purported to show a central square or chowk named after prime minister Narendra Modi and an installation of his statue on the same is morphed.

The image is doing the rounds in backdrop of the renaming of Motera Stadium in Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave (Ahmedabad) as Narendra Modi Stadium on February 24. Netizens have been critical of the move and termed the naming as against the 'Indian tradition'.

The caption viral with the image reads, "This is condemnable, what is happening! The tradition of central squares, stadium-hospital in the name of a person who is alive, is not in our country." (Original text in Hindi: ''निंदनीय ये हो क्या रहा है, जीते जी किसी के नाम के चौक-चौराहे,स्टेडियम-अस्पताल की परंपरा हमारे देश में नही रही''

The viral image shows a statue resembling PM Modi and a kettle like structure, suspended in the air above the statue. "Narendra Modi Chowk", written in Hindi can be seen prominently at two places.

Archive of the post can be seen here and here.

It is also viral in Bangla with a similar narrative. Archive can be seen here.

The image is also viral on Twitter with the Hindi caption. Archive link can be seen here.

Also read: Day 1 Of Mass COVID-19 Vaccination: Some Happy, Others Faced Glitches

Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search on the viral photo and found the original photograph in a Urdu website, Urdupoint.com uploaded on September 25, 2018.

Further search took us to the same photo on a Pakistani website, Pakistan Point, also uploaded in 2018. The photo shows a giant kettle pouring water on a huge structure of a cup and saucer placed on a circular stage at a central square. 'DEER TEA PHA' is written on the wall of the structure. The caption of the image reads, "FAISALABAD: A beautiful view of kettle and cup installed in Station Chowk for beautification of the city."

We searched for images of Faisalabad Station Chowk on Goolge and found the same on several accounts on Flickr. An image of Railway Station Chowk at Faisalabad, Pakistan from a different angle can be seen here.

A comparison between the viral image and the original image can be seen below.

Image of Narendra Modi statue

Further, we cropped the image of Narendra Modi's statue shown in the viral photograph and found the same structure being advertised on Indiamart's website at Rs. 65,000. The advertisement details state that it is a "3 feet marble statue of Narendra Modi".

Additionally BOOM searched for credible news reports on "Narendra Modi chowk" in India, and found a number of news reports on the existence of a chowk in the name of PM Modi in Darbhanga, Bihar. According to reports, Ramchandra Yadav, 70, was beheaded after he named a town square "Narendra Modi chowk".

A news report by NDTV from March 19, 2018 state that rumours about killing of Yadav in Dabhanga district over naming of a square were not true. The Bihar police had confirmed that the killing was due to a land dispute in the district and not over naming the chowk after Modi.

Also read: Yes, Motera Cricket Stadium Has Been Renamed To Narendra Modi Stadium