A viral message circulating on social media has distorted the reason behind why Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently went to Denmark, where he met with the prime minister of five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland.
The message claims that since Modi did not have the time to visit nine countries individually despite them expressing their inclination that he visit; these leaders asked him to stay in and went out of their way to Copenhagen, Denmark, to meet him instead.
The context of this is Modi's visit to Denmark to attend the second India-Nordic Summit with these leaders, as part of a larger visit to Europe by Modi, where he visited Germany prior to and France after his visit Denmark.
Releases from the offices of the prime ministers and foreign ministries of these countries as well as India suggest that the summit was preordained . Nothing in these releases suggest that these leaders expressly went out of their way to meet Modi.
The message can be seen below.
| Original (Hindi) | Translation (English) |
यूरोपियन यूनियन के 9 देशों के प्रधानमंत्रियों ने भारत के प्रधानमंत्री श्री Narendra Modi जी से मिलने की इच्छा जताई लेकिन क्योंकि मोदी जी का शेड्यूल पहले से सेट और बहुत टाइट था तो मोदी जी ने उनसे उनके देश में जाकर मिलने में असमर्थता जताई. तो फिर वह हो गया जो आज तक दुनिया के इतिहास में कभी नहीं हुआ. उन्होंने मोदी जी से रिक्वेस्ट की कि आप डेनमार्क में ही रुको हम आपको मिलने के लिए वहां पर ही आते हैं. फिनलैंड, नॉर्वे, स्वीडन, आइसलैंड आदि देशों के प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी से मिलने डेनमार्क में पहुंचे. भारत का कद इतना ऊंचा हो जाएगा यह तो मुझे पता ही था लेकिन इतनी जल्दी इतना ऊंचा हो जाएगा यह कभी ना सोचा था ना ऐसा मैं कभी अनुमान लगा पाया था. | The prime ministers of 9 European Union countries wanted to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but Modiji's schedule is set and tight, and thus expressed his inability to meet them. But then something happened that has never happened before. They told Modiji that you stay in Denmark, we will come to meet you. The prime ministers of Finland, Norway, Sweden Iceland etc. came to meet PM Modiji to Denmark. I knew that the status of India has risen, but it happened so swiftly and it has risen so high... "I" never thought of or foresaw this |
BOOM received the message on its helpline (7700906588).
It can also be seen below on Twitter and on Facebook.
FactCheck
BOOM went through the several releases from the offices of the prime ministers of these countries, and of that in India, to find that none of them made any reference to such a spontaneous meeting in any of them.
The meeting was preordained, and was the second India-Nordic Summit, after the first one took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2018. These summits are pre-determined meetings that take place with other world leaders in one place, where a plethora of issues may be discussed.
In this summit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate issues and national resources, the recovery post COVID-19 recovery in the world, technological collaborations were the common themes discussed among these countries.
"Apart from the bilateral engagements with Denmark, I [PM Narendra Modi] will also take part in the 2nd India-Nordic Summit along with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway where we will take stock of our cooperation since the First India-Nordic Summit in 2018.", said a statement by the the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Further, here is a statement from the Statsminiteriet (the Office of the Prime Minister of Denmark) on the Summit.
The Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, discussed trade, investments, tourism and innovation with Modi.
The Prime Ministers of Sweden and Norway tweeted the following after the summit.
None of these statements have any indication that this meeting saw these leaders go out of the way to meet Modi.
Further, this summit in Copenhagen has been in the works for a long time, and was not a way to accommodate the collective meeting of these leaders with Modi.
The Second India-Nordic Summit was scheduled to take place in Copenhagen in June 2021, but was postponed due to the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to comments made by the Danish Ambassador to India. The India-Nordic Summit is based on the meeting format adopted by former U.S. President Barack Obama to meet with the leaders of the Nordic countries.
This is not the first time BOOM has factchecked exaggerated claims on India's foreign affairs.
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