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| - Fact Check: Manmohan changing his seat in Sonia's presence goes viral with wrong claim
A post going viral on social media claims that former prime minister Manmohan Singh was asked to move to another chair at an event because of Sonia Gandhi. AFWA finds the truth behind the claim.
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India Today Fact Check
At a UPA meeting in 2011, Manmohan and Sonia inadvertently sat on each other’s chairs. Due to the PM’s security protocol, the SPG requested them to sit on the chairs allotted to them.
Was Manmohan Singh humiliated in the presence of Sonia Gandhi at an event and asked to sit on another chair?
In reply to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi on September 26 greeting the former Prime Minister on his birthday, a Twitter user posted a video clip of Sonia and Manmohan exchanging seats.
The caption of the post reads, “Pathetic way of bureaucracy. First time I am seeing a PM being told to move to other chair. Imagine the kind of hold she had in the entire 10 years of rule. We always respect the chair.”
In the 11-second clip, Manmohan is seen being asked by two officials to move from the chair he was seated in. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is seen standing behind him. Later, she sits on the chair Manmohan left.
Pathetic way of bureaucracy. First time I am seeing a PM being told to move to other chair. Imagine the kind of hold she had in entire 10 years of rule. We always respect the chair. https://t.co/wTpjqzmz3A pic.twitter.com/CdotTWsY0F — Murali Jai Hind (@Muralik79739498) September 26, 2020
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. At a UPA meeting in 2011, Manmohan and Sonia inadvertently sat on each other’s chairs. Due to the PM’s security protocol, the Special Protection Group (SPG) requested them to sit on the chairs allotted to them.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
We found that this clip went viral with the same misleading claim in 2017 as well.
With the help of InVID and reverse image search, we found this incident was reported by “India TV News” on December 14, 2011.
According to the report, the incident took place at the Prime Minister’s residence. During the UPA meeting, then PM Manmohan Singh sat on the chair meant for Sonia, while the latter came and sat on the chair meant for him.
When SPG officials noticed this, they first requested Sonia to vacate the PM’s seat, and another official told him in his ear that he should shift to Sonia’s seat.
According to SPG protocol, no one can sit on the PM’s designated seat due to security reasons. In this case, Manmohan and Sonia inadvertently sat on each other’s chairs, and SPG had to intervene.
On several occasions earlier, misleading claims about Manmohan and Sonia had resurfaced on social media that were debunked by fact-checkers.
Hence, it is clear that though it was true Manmohan had to move to another chair in front of Sonia but it was done due to the PM’s security protocol.
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