Indian artist's video passed off as man from Pakistan urging people to support PM Modi

What's the claim?

Ahead of the Parliamentary elections in India, a video of an individual, identified as ‘Asif Zardari’ from Pakistan, voicing his praise and support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing the rounds on social media. The video features text overlaid in Hindi, which reads, "This is a Muslim from Pakistan, Pakistani Asif Zardari," along with an emoji of the Pakistani flag. 

The over one-minute-long video depicts a man seated in a car wearing the traditional Islamic skullcap. He greets his viewers and goes on to address Indian Muslims, introducing himself as Asif Zardari from Pakistan. He then discusses the economic challenges and hardships being faced by Pakistanis, especially starvation, amid the holy month of Ramadan, juxtaposing them with the people in India.

He encourages Indian Muslims to endorse Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and expresses a wish for India to attack and take over control of Pakistan. The video ends with the use of profanity.

Pakistan has been grappling with a deep-seated economic crisis, leading financial hardships, unemployment, surge in prices of essential commodities such as food and oil.

On X (formerly Twitter), this video has been circulated alongside captions such as, "A Pakistani Muslim's message to Indian Muslims," and "I strongly condemn Pakistani Muslims for mocking Bharatiya Muslims and questioning their loyalty towards Bharat Mata."

Screenshots of X posts. (Source: X/DScreenshot/Modified by Logically Facts) 

At the time of writing, one such post featuring the viral video had accumulated over 19,000 views. Archived versions of several posts can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

Hindi news channel India TV also used the viral video in a live video available on their official, verified YouTube channel. The video, titled in Hindi, roughly translates to: "PM Modi On Pakistan: New planning by Prime Minister Modi has caused a commotion in Pakistan... only Modi, Modi everywhere. The video was used as a real testimonial from a person in Pakistan, railing against the country's economic crisis. An archive can be seen here.

A screenshot of the India TV live video. (Source: X/DScreenshot/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, we found that the social media page that posted the viral video claims to be of an artist based in the North Indian city of Agra, Uttar Pradesh. It does not depict a Pakistani man.

Who is the person in the video?

In a viral iteration of the video with a Malayalam caption, we saw that the name 'dhirendra_raghav_79' was visible. 

A screenshot showing the Instagram username 'dhirendra_raghav_79'. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

A search on Instagram with that username led us to a viral video posted on the Instagram page of 'Dhirendra Raghav' on March 23. Further, we found that the user had posted the same video on both Facebook and Instagram (archived here and here). The posts accompanying Hindi caption translates to "There is no one like Prime Minister Modi... 🇮🇳❤️" 

Screenshot of the Instagram post by Dhirendra Raghav, posted on March 23, 2024. (Source: Instagram/Dhirendra Raghav/Screenshot)

Raghav’s Instagram bio identifies him as an artist and his profile displays a variety of similar videos.

Upon reviewing the content of his page, we noticed that most of the videos feature him in different outfits, playing different characters, and sometimes sitting in a car, as seen in the viral video. In many of his videos, he adopts names, such as Saddam Hussein and Bhavana.

He frequently creates reels featuring songs. In some of his reels, he discusses current events such as the death of jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. Furthermore, in one of his videos, he calls for a boycott of the Congress Party. He has also created reels where he portrays Hindu and Muslim characters.

The man in the viral video can be seen in several other videos on both the Instagram and Facebook pages. (Source: Instagram/Facebook/Screenshot)

Raghav’s Facebook page also identified him as a video creator and a 'digital creator'. His profile indicates that he hails from and resides in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

A screenshot of Dhirendra Raghav's Facebook profile shows that he hails from and currently resides in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. (Source: Facebook/ Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

We checked some of Raghav's videos to confirm his location. One of the reels (archive here) on his Facebook page showed him dancing on a road to a popular Bollywood song. A look at some of the storefronts in the background showed us a salon called Jyoti Makeover, adjacent to a shop called Agrawal Dairy. Using these two clues, we were able to place the area where the video was shot to Pushpanjali Road in Agra.

An image comparison showing that this reel on Raghav's profile was shot in Agra. (Source: Facebook/Google Maps/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

Clearly, this video does not show a Pakistani Muslim’s message to Indian Muslims but is an act by an Agra-based digital content creator who regularly makes such videos based on different characters.

Logically Facts has also contacted Raghav for comment. This fact-check will be updated if and when we receive a response.

The verdict

The viral video, originally shared by a user identifying himself as an artist based in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, has been falsely circulated as portraying a Pakistani individual urging Indians to support Prime Minister Modi. The individual is from India, and similar videos can be found on his page. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.

(Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the video was aired as a real video by Hindi news channel India TV.)