A photo showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing down to touch Saudi Arabian King Salman's feet at a public event is being shared on social media.
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
The claim was viral in 2016 and 2022 on social media.
The Quint received a query for the image's verification on its WhatsApp tipline.
Did that really happen?: Nope. The photo is edited.
We found that the original photo, which dates back to 2013, showed PM Modi bending down to touch veteran BJP leader LK Advani's feet.
How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo.
This led us to a NDTV article dated 25 September 2013, whose headline mentioned that PM Modi was touching Advani's feet.
The article was published in 2013.
(Source: NDTV/Altered by The Quint)
The photo story carried a similar photo of Modi bowed down in front of LK Advani, the former home minister of India, crediting it to PTI.
The article carried a photo similar to the one in the claim.
(Source: NDTV/Screenshot)
On comparing this photo to the one in the claim, we saw many similarities – such as the people in the background and the design of the stage.
We noticed many similarities between the two images.
(Source: WhatsApp/PTI/Altered by The Quint)
It is pertinent to note that PM Modi became the prime minister of India in 2014, while King Salman has been reigning since 2015.
Neither of the leaders were in their current positions of power in 2013.
Next, we checked PTI's archives for the image.
We found it there with a caption that mentioned that Modi had sought Advani's blessings at a party rally held in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal on 25 September.
The photo's caption mentioned that PM Modi sought LK Advani's blessings.
(Source: PTI/Screenshot)
Conclusion: An edited photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shared to claim that he touched Saudi Arabian King Salman's feet.
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