Old clips of Modi drinking tea in Varanasi falsely linked to his recent Karnataka visit

Context

Ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making record number of trips to the state this year since coming to power in 2014. Amid Modi's ongoing campaign trail, a video of the prime minister sitting and drinking tea at a tea shop with other party members is going viral on social media. Another clip from the same video shows a man, presumably a tea shop owner, speaking in Hindi, saying he was very grateful that the prime minister visited his shop and drank tea like an ordinary customer. The video's caption claims this took place in the run-up to the assembly elections. It does not specify a particular location in Karnataka.

In Fact

Using relevant keywords, we found two clips on Modi’s official YouTube channel. Uploaded on March 4, 2022, the videos are titled “Unforgettable moments from Kashi as PM Modi enjoys a hot cup of 'chai' at a tea stall!” and “PM Modi stops by at a tea stall in Kashi.” This date corresponds to Modi's visit and roadshows in Varanasi or Kashi in Uttar Pradesh in March 2022, ahead of state elections.

We found several videos of the tea shop owner with his shop being referred to as Pappu tea stall, Pappu Chaiwala, and Pappu ki chai dukan (Pappu’s tea shop). We identified the clip used in the viral video among the search results and found that the original was uploaded by a street food channel called “Street Food Mania” on April 30, 2022. 

NDTV and other news outlets which covered Modi’s Varanasi roadshow in 2022 also mentioned his brief tea break at the same tea stall. While it is true that Modi had been in Karnataka starting April 29 and holding roadshows till May 7, these videos are not from his visit to the state. 

The Verdict

Videos from Modi’s roadshow in Varanasi ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections have been incorrectly shared as from Karnataka ahead of the 2023 assembly elections. Therefore, we mark this claim false.