Is Narendra Modi the strong contender for Nobel Peace Prize?
Several news outlets falsely claim that PM Modi is a strong contender for the prize.
Claim
“PM Modi biggest contender for Nobel Peace Prize” says Asle Toje, Deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee. Calls himself a “big Modi fan” and says Modi is the “most credible face of peace in the world today.”
Rating
Explanation
Nobel Prize Committee’s Deputy leader Asle Toje is in India right now and there have been several news outlets reporting that he had opined that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the strong contender for Nobel Peace Prize. News outlets such as CNBC TV18, Mint, Economic Times, Times Now, etc have reported so. This was followed up by right-wing outlets such as OpIndia, Megh Updates, Postcard along with journalist Rahul Shivshankar making the claim.
What’s the truth?
According to the rules of the Nobel Prize website, “Neither the names of nominators nor of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize may be divulged until 50 years have elapsed.” So, it is not in practise for a Nobel Prize Committee member to reveal about any nominations. In the same page, this information had been mentioned at 4 different places including a separate heading “50 year secrecy rule”.
We further searched for any information if Asle Toje, the deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee, had made any such statements. But there is no evidence to suggest that he had made any such statements in any of his interviews. Some journalists too were asking for more proof for such claims, as there weren’t any.
Can anyone point to this exact words in a speech or interview?
I can’t find it anywhere. Looks like
mediawalon ne khushi khushi mein zyada bol diya.'PM Modi is the biggest contender for the Nobel Peace Prize'- says #AsleToje, Deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee.
— Akanksha Saxena (@akankshasxn) March 16, 2023
Various noted journalists such as Rana Ayyub, Mohammed Zubair and the like have been sharing a video of Asle Toje supposedly denying it as fake news in an interview to ANI.
Deputy leader of the Nobel committee who is in India tells ANI that a fake news attributing a statement to him is being shared in the media. Is he referring to the news story that he endorsed Modi for the Nobel peace prize ? pic.twitter.com/TIvemItzVS
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) March 16, 2023
In the video, he said “I am the deputy leader of the Nobel Committee. A fake news tweet was sent out and I think we should treat it as a fake news. It’s fake. Let’s not discuss it. Let’s not give it energy or oxygen. I categorically deny that I said anything resembling what was in that tweet.” However, the 30-second video doesn’t reveal what the question was put forth to him.
Since this video featured ANI logo, we searched for their article and YouTube page. Interestingly, in the article published in ANI website about Asle Toje’s interview, this portion of Asle Toje’s response has not been covered. It had only covered Asle Toje’s praise for India’s growth and Narendra Modi’s stature in the world stage.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh had also tweeted the video of Asle Toje supposedly denying the claims of Narendra Modi is the strong contender for Nobel Peace Prize as fake.
Asle Toje is a noted Norwegian academic visiting India. I was puzzled he had said that Mr. Modi was the strongest contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Toje has categorically denied saying this. While his 'statement' was pumped by GodiMedia, his denial is being ignored. pic.twitter.com/J9o56eM0uU
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 16, 2023
Earlier, several news outlets have misquoted White House spokesperson & National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby’s statements by reporting that he had said that only Modi can convince Russia to stop war in Ukraine.
Read More: Did US say PM Modi can convince Russia to stop the war in Ukraine?
Conclusion
In our search, we found that the news reports made in several news outlets to be fake as there is no evidence to suggest that the deputy leader of Nobel Committee Asle Toje said that PM Modi is the strongest contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.