A quote purportedly made by former United Kingdom's Prime Minister Liz Truss is going viral on social media.
The quote states that Truss called "India, a nation that blindly follows illiterate leaders and spiritual preachers."
Who shared it?: Along with several social media users, this claim was also shared by one Sakshi, a Social Medial Joint Co-Ordinator for Punjab Congress Sevadal.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
Did Truss really said this?: This is an edited image. The original image carried a quote about her resignation as the UK's prime minister.
We also could not find any reports of Truss making this statement.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a keyword search relevant to the viral quote but found no reports about Truss making any remark that mocks India fo 'following illiterate leaders and spiritual preachers'.
We noticed a logo of 'Bolta Hindustan' and social media handles of the same page on the viral image.
The logo and media handles of 'Bolta Hindustan' in the viral image.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
This led us to the original image which shows the same image of Truss but the quote talks about her resignation and it was shared on Twitter on 20 October 2022.
The quote on the original image in Hindi says, "I was not able to fulfil the promises I made while coming to power; that's why I have resigned.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Reports about Truss' statement: We did not find any reports about this viral statement.
We found a YouTube video of an interview given by Truss at ABP LIVE's ABP Ideas Of India Summit in Mumbai that took place on 24 February.
In the video, Truss states that India is a leader and an economic powerhouse by being world's biggest democracy and worrld's biggest country with population.
She adds, "India can use its economic power to influence how we all deal with China."
We also found ABP Live's report about Truss' speech at the summit where she praises India's infrastructure development.
Conclusion: Liz Truss did not make a statement about Indians following illiterate leaders and spiritual preachers.
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