Ahead of India’s recent national elections, misinformation pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backfired, instead exploding into a meme that went viral globally.
The claim — that Modi had managed to engineer a halt in Russia’s war in Ukraine to help evacuate thousands of stranded Indian medical students — was denied by India’s own foreign ministry. The BJP’s assertion was mocked in memes on social media and even by British comedian John Oliver on one of his shows.
