Fact Check: Did Rafale jets give a tricolour farewell to France before landing in India?

Origin

Social media, in general, is a place for many notorious netizens to share fabricated news which quickly goes viral. One of the most viral fake messages revolving around India claimed that the country's National Anthem had been chosen as the world's best by UNICEF. even though no such declaration was ever made by them. One similar fake message manipulating the patriotic passion of people has now been doing the rounds on the internet. Check it out below - 

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Rafale Jets' tribute to France fake message debunked

The first set of Rafale fighter jets landed on the Indian soil on July 29, 2020. Now a video of jets forming a tricolour in the sky claims that is how France bid farewell to the jets as they left for India. The video showcases the jets emerging from behind a magnanimous structure and synchronising the formation of smoke trails of green, red and white colours. 

The video is being widely circulated on social media with a caption that reads - 'Everyone talked about Rafael landing in India but see the farewell from France with Indian Tricolors'. The message was shared in abundance on social media ranging from WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. Check it out below - 

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What is the truth?

After a quick search on the internet, it can be confirmed that the footage doing the rounds on the internet is actually from the Republic Day celebrations of Italy. The footage is from the capital Rome and a search on YouTube for 'Republic Day celebration in Italy' will land users on similar-looking videos. Italy celebrates Republic Day on June 2 when the country's Air Force performs synchronised stunts. Social media often gets confused between India and Italy's National Flags as they nearly have the same colour pattern. 

Google Trends Analysis

As the viral messages about Rafale jets giving a farewell to France started doing rounds on the internet, a number of interested internet users took to Google and searched to verify the news. This led to a surge in search results around topics like 'Farewell to Rafale in France' and 'Farewell from France to Rafale'. Check out Google Trends analysis below - 

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