Posts falsely claim Indonesian president mistook Modi for Nehru

Published on July 16, 2026 at 13:51
2 min read
By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Indonesia earlier this month for a state visit hosted by President Prabowo Subianto. But social media posts claiming Subianto mistakenly addressed Modi as India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, are false. Video published by an Indonesian broadcaster and official transcript of Subianto's speech show he addressed Modi correctly, while noting that the country had previously hosted Nehru.

"The President of Indonesia welcomed Jawaharlal Nehru instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This unexpected mix-up triggered a flood of memes and humorous reactions on social media, with users jokingly remarking that history has made a sudden comeback," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post from July 8, 2026.

The post includes a 14-second video showing the Indonesian president speaking midway through his address in Bahasa Indonesia, saying: "...awarded to the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru."

Text superimposed on the clip reads "President of Indonesia: 'Welcome, Nehru ji! instead of PM Modi."

Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on July 13, 2026 with a red X added by AFP

The same video, with similar claims, circulated online as Modi visited Indonesia on a three-day state visit from July 6 -- the first leg of a three-nation Indo-Pacific tour that also includes Australia and New Zealand (archived link).

During the visit, India agreed to supply Indonesia with long-range missiles. The leaders of Asia's two biggest democracies also agreed to work together on critical minerals -- which Indonesia produces in abundance -- and steel (archived link).

Subianto also conferred on Modi Indonesia's highest civilian award, the Bintang Adipurna, for his contribution to strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries (archived link).

The video of the Indonesian president mentioning Nehru's name has, however, been taken out of context.

Misrepresented video

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a longer clip published by Indonesian broadcaster Kompas TV on YouTube on July 7 (archived link).

The video is captioned "Prabowo Awards the Bintang Adipurna to Indian PM Narendra Modi After Meeting at the Palace."

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and the video published on YouTube

In the video, Subianto starts his speech by welcoming Modi to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, and thanking him for accepting the Bintang Adipurna, the country's highest state and civilian honour.

At the 6 minute, 26 second mark -- which matches the falsely circulating clip -- he goes on to say that Nehru, India's first prime minister, was given the same award for strengthening India-Indonesia ties.

Nehru was conferred the award posthumously in December 1995, when Indonesia celebrated its 50th year of independence (archived link).

Indonesia's presidential office also published Subianto's speech on its official website on July 7 (archived link). It clearly shows him mentioning Modi, before speaking about Nehru.

An AFP journalist in Indonesia confirmed the Indonesian president did not mistakenly call Modi Nehru.

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