Fact Check: Obama never said terrorist attacks impossible in India till Modi is PM

"Till the time Narendra Modi is the prime minister, terrorist attacks in India are impossible: Barack Obama." An article attributing this statement to former US President Barack Obama in a news website went viral on social media. The write-up was published in Oriental Times India on December 27.

The article, quoting sources, stated that the people arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the recent raids planned to attack Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya on November 29. The article further stated that in the backdrop of this news, Barack Obama said that terrorist attacks in India are impossible till the time Narendra Modi is the prime minister.

On December 26, the NIA busted an Islamic State (IS) terror module in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and arrested five and detained ten people.

India Today Fact Check found that Obama never said what is being claimed in the article. Moreover, the NIA press release nowhere mentioned that the arrested people planned to attack Ram Janmabhoomi.

Save a few media reports, most of the news articles only mentioned that the arrested people were planning to target the RSS office in Delhi, police headquarters and some other prominent location in NCR.

The Facebook post of Oriental Times India has already been shared more than 5,500 times at the time of filing the report.

The same text has been shared more than 1,000 times from other Facebook accounts.

We searched several news portals, including the international ones, but could not find any statement where Obama spoke about PM Narendra Modi or terrorism in India after the recent NIA raids.

When we contacted editor of Oriental Times India, Abhishek Verma, he said the article was mistakenly published on the website and has now been removed from all platforms.