Fact Check: Viral image of PM Narendra Modi wearing skull cap is morphed

Hyderabad: An image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wearing a skull cap has gone viral on social media. The caption for the post also claims that the image was taken during PM Modi's recent visit to Egypt.

The caption of the viral post reads, “परहेज तो देसी मुसलमानों से है बाहर तो गोल टोपी भी पहन लेते हैं मिस्टर में मोदी जी,” which translate to, “He only avoids Indian Muslims but wears skull cap in Egypt” in English.

The caption is referring to PM Modi’s recent visit to Egypt on June 25 where he met with Egyptian President El-Sisi and discussed ways to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries with a focus on improving trade and investments, energy ties and people-to-people connections.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false as the viral image is morphed.

On performing a simple reverse image search, we found the same image uploaded on a media report by United News of India titled “PM hails Dawoodi Bohra community for contribution to nation-building” with a Mumbai dateline and published on February 10, 2023.

We found that the picture used in the media report does not show PM Modi wearing any Islamic headgear as claimed in the viral post. Hence the viral image has nothing to do with his visit to Egypt.

We also found the same image and other images of the event on the official Twitter handle of Prime Minister Modi and Facebook published on the same date. Their photo caption said, “Delighted to join the program to mark the inauguration of the new campus of @jamea_saifiyah in Mumbai. @Dawoodi_Bohras”

Taking a cue from this, we scanned the official website of the Dawoodi Bohra community and found the same pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Dawoodi Bohra community’s Arabic academy in Mumbai along with Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Hence, we can conclude that the viral image of PM Modi wearing a skull cap is morphed and is not from his recent visit to Egypt.