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  • FAKE: Top US industrialist’s praise for PM Modi altered to claim he is not good for India’s growth
This story is from October 16, 2018

FAKE: Top US industrialist’s praise for PM Modi altered to claim he is not good for India’s growth

A fake quote attributed to top US industrialist and former chairman of CISCO Systems John Chambers is being circulated a lot. The quote reads, “India's "impressive development" will cease to exist if Modi gets a second term as country’s leader after next year’s parliamentary election.”
FAKE: Top US industrialist’s praise for PM Modi altered to claim he is not good for India’s growth
CLAIM
Headline of a three-month-old news report has been doctored to target PM Narendra Modi.
A fake quote attributed to top US industrialist and former chairman of CISCO Systems John Chambers is being circulated a lot. The quote reads, “India's "impressive development" will cease to exist if Modi gets a second term as country’s leader after next year’s parliamentary election.”
The tampered news report was shared by the serial fake page “We support Ravish Kumar” on Facebook.


At the time of filing this report, this post had received more than five thousand shares over four thousand likes.
TRUTH
The quote is fake and opposite of what Chambers said about Modi in July this year. During the inaugural Annual Leadership Summit of the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum on July 12 in Washington, Chambers told a group of Indian reporters that India’s impressive development and inclusive growth risks losing steam if Modi is not re-elected in the 2019 elections.

“Modi is courageous. He wakes up every day thinking about your country’s future. I think it would be a major risk not to give him a chance to lead India again for five years,” Chambers said.
fake

Full details of the report can be read here.
VERIFICATION
A close look at the title of the news report flags doubt about its authenticity. The third word of the headline -- PM -- stands out because of its bold font. This compelled us to examine the body of the story.
fake

The first line of the story itself contradicts the headline.. It reads “top US industrialist has said that if Modi is not given the opportunity to lead India after next Lok Sabha elections, India’s breathtaking growth will be in danger”.
METHODOLOGY
We searched on Google using several keywords to find original news reports in Hindi about what Chambers said.
The search led to a site called modinewslibrary.com that has curated the original news report published by ‘Dainik Jagran’.
fake

In a report dated July 15, Jagran had carried the story with this headline.
fake

It is clear that fourth and fifth words of the Jagran headline were altered to change the meaning of the story.
We found the original paper clipping as well.
fake

Now compare the two and see the difference:
fake

VERDICT
Times Fact Check has found the newspaper clipping about John Chambers calling PM Modi bad for India’s development to be a rigged version of the original news that reported Chambers praising Modi.
End of Article
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