Did Italian PM Meloni insult Indian PM Modi by not offering her hand for a handshake?
Rating
Claim
New meme template for “Gazab beizzati hai yaar”.😂
Explanation
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was welcomed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her recent two-day visit to India on 2, March 2023. A photo of Meloni and Modi is shared to claim that she refused to shake hands with Modi and instead said ‘Namaste’. This photo is shared to mock Modi that it is an insult. Some of the posts also shared this image with a sarcastic claim “Namaste is a practice in Indian culture, Modi ji has finally explained this to the foreigners”.
What is the truth?
When searching for the videos of Italian PM Meloni’s visit, we found a video on ‘DD News Live’ with the caption ‘PM Narendra Modi receives PM of Italy Giorgia Meloni at Rashtrapati Bhavan’. This video shows Modi welcoming Meloni where they both shook hands. But the video does not have a visual that matches the viral image.
With further search, we found a video on the ‘Narendra Modi’ Youtube channel. This video was uploaded on 2, March 2023 with the title “PM Modi and PM of Italy at Rashtrapati Bhavan”.
This video also has the visual of Modi receiving Meloni where they both shook hands initially. The visual matching the viral image can be seen at the 8:08 minute timestamp of the video. While leaving, Meloni said ‘Namaste’ folding her hands while Modi offered his hand for a handshake. In a fraction of a second, both shook hands with each other. An image of that particular second where Modi offered his hand for a handshake while Meloni was saying ‘namaste’ is shared claiming that Modi was insulted.
Conclusion
It is found from our search that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shook hands with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni while receiving her at Rashtrapati Bhavan and while she was leaving.
