Tricolour on Matterhorn to Thank India For HCQ Supply? Fake Claim!
The claim is that Matterhorn mountain was lighted up with the Indian flag after PM Modi supplied HCQ tablets.
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CLAIM
A tweet by BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh, in which he claims that the Matterhorn mountain in Swiss Alps was lighted up with the Indian Tricolour in the name of hope after PM Narendra Modi supplied Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets is going viral on Twitter.
Santhosh’s tweet had 2.5k retweets and over 13k likes at the time this story was published.
Many others shared the same photo and the claim on Twitter and Facebook.
TRUE OR FALSE?
While the photo and the incident is true and the Indian Tricolour was actually projected onto the Matterhorn, the claim shared with the photo is false. The gesture was meant to express solidarity with all Indians in the fight against COVID-19 and had nothing to do with HCQ supply at all.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
The Quint, along with other news outlets had reported on this incident on Saturday, 18 April. This came after the Twitter handle of the Embassy of India to Switzerland, The Holy See & Liechtenstein, took to social media to announce that the Indian Tricolour had been projected on the Matterhorn Mountain in Zermatt, Switzerland, to express solidarity with Indians in the fight against coronavirus.
The official Twitter account of Zermatt Tourism also shared the photo with the caption, “The Indian flag on the Matterhorn, Switzerland's landmark, is intended to express our solidarity and give hope and strength to all Indians.”
The verified Instagram handle of the Zermatt-Matterhorn Tourist Information Centre also shared the photo, captioned “Hope and strength to all Indians.”
According to their website, the Matterhorn is illuminated daily as a sign of hope as the world battles the novel coronavirus.
“Light is hope! In this sense, the Matterhorn is illuminated daily during the coronavirus pandemic,” reads the banner on their website.
One look at their Instagram and Twitter handle shows that the Matterhorn has been lit up with the flags of many countries already.
The website also contains a timeline of what flags were projected onto the mountain on what day and at what time.
We also came across a news article by Financial Express which spoke about the fact that the Matterhorn was being illuminated with flags of major countries everyday.
According to the report, Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter is responsible for lighting up the mountain with flags of different countries and messages of hope as part of a series to show solidarity with nations fighting COVID-19.
On 7 April, Tuesday, the Government of India decided to partially lift the ban on export of the anti-malarial drug, paving the way for its supply to the US and other countries hit by the coronavirus pandemic, saying India would export Hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol on a case-by-case basis to the countries which have already placed orders for them, after meeting domestic requirements.
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