New Delhi: The ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event organised in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s honour in Houston, Texas, garnered a lot of attention in India, accompanied by pride and nationalistic fervour. But some well-reputed news organisations and social media handles ended up misreporting that the US Army had played India’s national anthem at the event.
A video, which has gone viral on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, claims to be from Sunday’s ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event. It has been shared by dozens of individual accounts on Facebook, as well as by BJP MP Vinod Chavda on his personal page, which is followed by over three lakh people.
Hindi news channel CNBC Awaaz posted the video on Twitter, attributing it to #HowdyModi. “#HowdyModi | This is how the American army prepared, by playing India’s national anthem.” This particular video was viewed by over 2,000 people.
Sister channel News18 also tweeted the video with a similar caption: “US army playing the Indian national anthem in preparation for PM @narendramodi’s arrival at the #HowdyModi event.”
Actor Anupam Kher also tweeted the video, but did not attribute it to ‘Howdy, Modi!’
American army band playing Indian National Anthem. Ultimate high. Jai Ho and Jai Hind.🙏🙏🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/iRLEtp2hiO
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) September 22, 2019
Authentic but unrelated
While the video is authentic — the US Army is indeed playing the Indian national anthem — it has nothing to do with ‘Howdy, Modi!’. It is actually from Yudh Abhyas 2019, a joint military exercise by the armies of both countries.
Yudh Abhyas took place from 5-18 September in Washington, with the US Army playing the Indian national anthem on the last day.
‘Howdy, Modi!’, which took place at Houston’s NRG Stadium Sunday, saw PM Modi share the stage with US President Donald Trump in front of an audience of around 50,000 people. It is the highlight of Modi’s seven-day tour of the United States.