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| - Fact Check: Former UK PM Liz Truss did not mock India for illiteracy
Liz Truss is alleged to have mocked India's "illiterate leaders and spiritual preachers". However, there is no record of Truss making such a statement.
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India Today Fact Check
There is no record of Truss making such a statement. This quote is made-up.
India hoped for better bilateral ties with the United Kingdom after Rishi Sunak became the latter’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister. Hurting this euphoria, a purported statement by Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, is garnering a lot of attention on social media for not the right reasons. She is alleged to have mocked India's "illiterate leaders and spiritual preachers”.
A postcard was shared by many social media users featuring an alleged quote by the former UK prime minister saying, "India is a country where people carefully listen to the speeches of illiterate leaders and religious preachers." The postcard features a photograph of Truss as well.
The postcard was shared by many, including one Punjab Congress leader on Twitter with a cheeky caption asking, "is this sarcasm or praise?"
Several Facebook users also shared the postcard, while taking a dig at prime minister Narendra Modi.
An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
AFWA found that the quote attributed to Truss is absolutely baseless. There is no record of the former UK PM making such a statement against India or its political leaders.
AWFA Probe
Before becoming the prime minister of the UK from the Conservative party for a short tenure, Truss held the chair of the UK's foreign secretary from 2021 to 2022.
Given that Truss is not only a former prime minister of one of the prominent European countries but also held key cabinets, it is obvious that such comments would have appeared in leading media outlets. However, several keyword searches on Truss and her remarks on India yielded no news that supports the postcard's claims.
Subsequently, we searched for Truss's statement regarding India and came across a recent report published on February 24, 2023. The report highlighted her response to the question about West's trustworthiness. She said, “This is where India has a huge role to play, being the world's biggest democracy. I don't think India is a follower, I think India is a leader. You are the world's biggest democracy."
During the same event, she also urged a relook at the UN Security Council and supported a greater role for India in the world body. She also stressed that the current structure is not working out.
A report by 'Mint' published on September 5, 2022– the day she was elected as the UK's prime minister– quoted Truss's early desire to wrap up a trade deal with India and promised to look at their visa system to make sure it attracts Indians. The trade deal, however, could not materialise as she resigned after 45 days of taking the oath, making her the shortest-serving prime minister ever in the UK's history.
As the foreign secretary of the UK, Truss also paid a visit to India amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. She restrained from drawing lines between New Delhi's ties with Moscow. On being questioned about what the UK thinks of India’s decision to buy oil from Russia amid the sanctions of western countries, Truss responded, "She wants India to join sanctions against Russia but will not tell what to do."
It is noteworthy that India has abstained from voting against Russia in the United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned and rejected Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, not once but several times.
We also came across a similar-looking postcard on the Twitter handle of 'Bolta Hindustan', with the same logo visible on the viral postcard. The original postcard from the official handle quoted Truss after she had resigned from the PM's chair in October. The quote read, "I could not fulfil the promises with which I came to power, that's why I have resigned."
A comparison between both postcards makes it clear that the original text was replaced with the quote visible in the viral postcard.
Thus, it is clear that a made-up quote has been falsely attributed to Liz Truss.
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