On Tuesday, January 21, Donald Trump took oath as the 47th President of the United States in an elaborate inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. Amidst this, several social media users took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a video purportedly showing Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar being asked to leave in the middle of the swearing-in ceremony.
Verified X user @RishiRahar shared the video and called for the Indian government to “take notice”. The X post garnered over 340,000 views. (Archive)
It’s truly shameful that the authorities demanded EAM S. Jaishankar’s removal from the show.
As an Indian, I am deeply hurt and strongly condemn this act.
The Indian government must take notice and appropriate action should be taken. pic.twitter.com/IEGjaqDb2J
— Rishi Choudhary
(@RishiRahar) January 21, 2025
Other X users, including @kaleidoscopeic and verified account @DrJain21 also shared the footage with similar claims. (Archive 1, 2)
All Indians must be thankful to S. Jaishankar for ensuring Modi didn’t receive an invitation to attend Trump inauguration
Just imagine the embarrassing moments Modi might have created trying to steal the camera’s focus!
#TrumpInauguration2025 pic.twitter.com/LYoelQazhd
— Veena Jain (@DrJain21) January 21, 2025
What a shame! Authorities demanding S. Jaishankar to leave the show.pic.twitter.com/Mc6E8Kqaaw
— Kaleidoscope (@kaleidoscopeic) January 21, 2025
Both these posts had over 200,000 views.
Fact Check
To understand what actually happened, Alt News carefully scrutinised the longer video of the inauguration ceremony shared by the White House, from which the viral video shared on X was taken.
In this, around the time that Jaishankar was supposedly asked to leave, we see a woman, with an lanyard around her neck, approaching the row where he is standing. She gestures for somebody to move. On looking closely, we noticed that the woman was not addressing Jaishankar but a photographer in front of him.
In the clip above, the reporter (circled in red), with a black accessory in her hair, can be seen acknowledging the woman’s nudge, turning towards her and crouching.
This appears at the 34:44-minute mark of the White House feed of the inauguration ceremony. Here, the woman photographer can be seen standing in front of Jaishankar with a camera; she is then seen leaving at the 35:11-minute mark.
The screenshots below show the photographer turning towards the woman and then leaving.The same black hair accessory appears in both instances.
We were also able to locate said reporter in DW’s video of the ceremony. She can be seen standing in front of Jaishankar with a camera at the 3:22:45-minute mark.
So, the woman wearing a lanyard card in the viral video did not ask Jaishankar to move. She had actually gestured the photographer in front of him to move.
The post Was external affairs minister S. Jaishankar asked to leave Trump’s inauguration ceremony? appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.