India TV Fact Check: The festive season is in full swing in the country, and during these festivals, people do a lot of shopping. Markets are filled with various items from both domestic and foreign sources, enticing consumers. However, during this time, a post went viral on social media, claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to boycott foreign goods. But when we fact-checked this post, it turned out to be entirely fake.
What is going viral?
On October 30, 2023, a Facebook user by the name of Shamji Chabhadia shared this post. It includes a photo of Prime Minister Modi with folded hands, and there is a long message written on the photo. The message in the photo says:
"Dear friends, your Prime Minister is saying something. If China captures India tomorrow, we will be responsible for it. Even the British enslaved us by doing business in India. At that time, we were illiterate, but today we are educated. If we adopt indigenous products and don't buy any foreign goods for 90 days, India can become the second richest country in the world. India's Rs 2 will become equal to USD 1 in just 90 days. If you forward this message instead of forwarding jokes, it can become a movement. Last year, under a campaign, people didn't buy Chinese products during Diwali, and 20% of their goods got wasted, making China worried. It does matter, sir, our country is very big. Try it. Wake up, Indians!"
With this message, it is being claimed that the Prime Minister has appealed to everyone not to buy foreign goods during the festive season and to boycott Chinese products to teach China a lesson.
India TV did fact check
To find out the truth behind the viral message, we began our search. We first searched on Google with the help of keywords. Despite extensive online searching, we could not find any official communication from Prime Minister Modi or the government where he made an appeal to boycott Chinese products during the festival season.
However, during the Google search, we found a news article on the News 18 Hindi website in which an appeal was made by PM Modi to buy as many indigenous goods as possible. This news was published on November 1, 2021. The headline of this news is - PM Narendra Modi appealed for Swadeshi Diwali, "China suffered a loss of Rs 50 thousand crores." It is written in this news, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps appealing to the countrymen to promote the use of indigenous goods and be vocal for local goods. Recently, PM Modi in the 'Mann Ki Baat' program appealed to adopt indigenous goods on Diwali. And repeated the slogan of Local for Vocal.”
The News 18 article also mentioned that the appeal for buying indigenous goods is not directed against any specific country. In the fifth paragraph of the article, it is stated, "Prime Minister Modi and several ministers of the central government have made it clear that the 'Swadeshi' (indigenous) and 'Local for Vocal' mantra is not against any country. This is an initiative to make India self-reliant."
What came out in the fact check?
When we fact-checked this, it was revealed that neither PM Modi nor the central government has made any such appeal. The viral message is entirely fabricated, and similar messages have circulated during past festival seasons.
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