Viral Images Of The 'Modi Express' In London Are From 2015

A set of three images of double-decker buses in London covered with advertisements to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Britain has resurfaced on Facebook without any context that the images are not recent.

The post has been captioned as, “Welcome Modi Ji has been written even on all the city buses of London. This amount of respect and honour has not been given to any country’s prime minister yet."

(#लंदन की सभी सिटी बसों पर भी #Welcome_Modi_Ji लिख दिया गया। इतना सम्मान आज तक किसी भी राष्ट्र के #प्रधानमंत्री को नहीं मिला है।)

The advertisement features Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image and a text, “Welcome Modi Ji. We remember India’s contribution in WWI and WWII.”

The post received 44 likes and 178 shares at the time of writing this article. An archived version of the post can be seen here.

It is also going viral from other Facebook pages.

Fact Check

BOOM ran a keyword search with “Welcome modiji bus advertisement in London.” We found a few news articles on the topic.

In October 2015, ahead of the prime minister’s visit to London, the Indian diaspora had launched a special bus named 'Modi Express'. The buses were to tour around iconic landmarks of central London for the next one month. It also organised various visits across the UK, starting with its first stop at Ealing Road, dubbed as ‘Little India’ in Wembley, followed by Trafalgar Square to celebrate Diwali in London, reported NDTV.

Nitin Palan, an Indian living in the UK, conceptualised the special Modi bus. The event was reported by various Indian news channels as well. Two such articles can be accessed here and here.

The images of Modi Express also were tweeted on October 12, 2015 just before one month of PM Modi’s visit from the handle @UKwelcomesModi.