Vendor, not SPG officer: Truth behind Modi’s Jhargram Jhalmuri stop

A roadside vendor in Jhargram, West Bengal, served jhalmuri to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an unscheduled stop, sparking viral memes falsely claiming he was an SPG officer in disguise. Despite the misinformation, eyewitnesses confirmed the visit was genuine, spontaneous, and deeply human.

New Delhi: The man who served jhalmuri to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in West Bengal’s Jhargram was not an SPG officer in disguise — he was a real roadside vendor who happened to get an unexpected visit. The meme suggesting otherwise stitched together unrelated images to create a misleading narrative. The viral claim doesn’t hold up to basic scrutiny.

Even AI chatbot “Grok” when asked about the viral post, clarified the confusion, saying, “No, it’s not true. That’s a satirical meme collage… The right photo is the actual jhalmuri shopkeeper… The left is a stock SPG officer image,” adding that while memes amplified the claim, there is “no proof they’re the same person. Pure political satire.”

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Despite political reactions and online chatter, the basic fact remains unchanged — the interaction was real, unscripted, and involved a genuine local vendor.

The shopkeeper, identified as Vikram Shaw (also reported as Deepak Kumar), in a conversation with IANS had said that he was amazed by the Prime Minister’s sudden stop.

He described it as a “huge thing” that the country’s Prime Minister came to his small stall, asked about his life, and insisted on paying for the jhalmuri. Shaw shared that he earns modestly to support his family and had never imagined such a moment, even joking later that he regretted not asking for an autograph.

People present at the spot also described the visit as spontaneous and surprising, not staged.

The Prime Minister was seen interacting casually with locals, sharing food and smiles. In contrast to the viral misinformation, the reality is far simpler: a brief, human interaction in a small town that was quickly turned into a misleading narrative online.

Within minutes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brief, unscheduled halt at a modest ‘jhalmuri’ stall in Bengal’s Jhargram, social media feeds were flooded with memes. Split images, clever captions, and confident claims insisted the smiling vendor serving the snack was no ordinary man, but an SPG officer planted for optics. But what was being circulated on social media was a complete fabrication, misrepresenting the facts.

The man behind the counter was not a security operative. He was exactly who he appeared to be: a small-town vendor named Vikram Shaw.

“It is a huge thing for me that the Prime Minister of the country came to my shop to have jhalmuri,” he told IANS.

“He came here and first asked my name and also about my well-being. Then he asked me to prepare jhalmuri,” Shaw recounted. “After I made one, he asked how much it cost. I tried to refuse to take money from him, but then took it after he insisted.”