Old Clip Showing Protest Against PM Modi Falsely Linked to West Asia War

We were able to trace the video to January, predating the ongoing war in West Asia.

Fact-Check: This video dates back to January and is not related to the West Asia crisis. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A clip featuring several individuals setting fire to an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being shared on social media.

Those sharing the video claimed that people protested against India's alleged normalisation of relations with Israel and increasing tensions with Iran.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false, as we were able to trace this video to January, predating the West Asia war.

What we found: At first, we divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran Google reverse image searches on some of them.

• It led us to a similar video on Instagram by @ara_with_ritik from 28 January, which is one month before the ongoing West Asia war.

• This Instagram post noted, "Massive protest against UGC in Ara." (translated from Hindi to English).

• Team WebQoof has reached out to the Instagram user for further comments and the story will be updated once a response is received.

• We also found other posts on social media from January noting that it showed a protest against the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines. You can view them here and here.

• The UGC’s 2026 equity regulations mandating Equal Opportunity Centres and anti-discrimination mechanisms triggered protests and legal challenges from several general category students, who alleged inadequate safeguards and potential misuse leading to reverse bias.

Conclusion: The viral clip could be traced back to January, predating the ongoing West Asia war.

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