Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended and addressed the 79th UN General Assembly Session in New York last month, multiple social media users have shared posts claiming that India had secured a permanent seat in the UN Security Council with veto power.
The PTI Fact Check Desk found the claim to be false. India is yet to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. As of now, only five countries — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — are permanent members of the UNSC and have veto power.
A Facebook user, in his post on October 2, wrote: “Congratulations “India got veto power” 180 countries of the world supported India, China’s protest cooled down, India’s decades old dream came true. This is – Modi’s India’s superpower. It is possible only if Modi is there.” To check the veracity of the claim, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google. However, our search did not yield any credible reports supporting this claim. Had any such development taken place, it would have grabbed the headlines across global media, particularly in India.
The PTI Fact Check Desk then scanned the official website of the United Nations, which clearly mentioned that only five countries – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are permanent members of the UNSC.
The UNSC is composed of five permanent member nations along with ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the United Nations General Assembly.
Currently, Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Switzerland are the 10 non-permanent members of the UNSC.
India has argued for decades that it deserves to be a member of the UNSC. It last sat at the UN high table as a non-permanent member in 2021-22. While several countries, including the US, the UK, Russia, France, Portugal and several other countries have backed India’s permanent membership bid, China has been stonewalling India’s efforts with its veto power in the UNSC. From our investigation, it is clear that India is neither a permanent member of the UN Security Council nor holds veto power. The social media posts were shared with a fake claim.
For verification or truth of any claim viral on social media, contact PTI Fact Check Desk’s WhatsApp number 91-8130503759.
