A post accompanying a video of Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee, speaking to a media organization is being widely shared across social media platforms (here, here, and here), claiming that Indian Prime Minister Modi has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. In the video, Asle Toje discusses PM Modi’s intervention in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and appreciates India’s efforts to remind Russia of the consequences of using nuclear weapons. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Indian Prime Minister Modi has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel peace prize.
Fact: There is no evidence to suggest that Indian Prime Minister Modi has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. Further, the Nobel prize statutes enforce secrecy with respect to the details of nominations and nominees. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo. The viral video of Asle Toje discussing PM PM Modi’s intervention in the Russia-Ukraine conflict dates back to March 2023, when Toje visited India. During his visit, Toje interacted with the media and praised India, particularly PM Modi. Following these remarks, several prominent news agencies published articles in March 2023 suggesting that PM Modi was a leading contender for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, citing Toje’s comments. However, Toje later denied the media claims, stating that he never referred to PM Modi as the leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
It is important to note that the Nobel Prizes for 2024 were announced in October 2024 (here). The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo for its efforts to envision and ‘achieve a world free of nuclear weapons’ by amplifying the voices of those who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings (here, here).
Subsequently, we conducted a relevant keyword search to gather details about this viral video of Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee, speaking to a media organization, and found that the video dates back to March 2023 (here, here).
Further research revealed that Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, visited India in March 2023. He attended a roundtable discussion on ‘Alternative Development Model & Peace,’ organized by the India Center Foundation at the India International Center (IIC) in New Delhi on 14 March 2023. During this conference, Toje spoke about global peace in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Following the conference, he engaged with multiple news agencies.
During his interactions with the media, Toje took high praise for India and, PM Modi in particular. He further went on to praise PM Modi for his intervention in stopping Russia from using nuclear weapons, during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Following these remarks, several prominent News agencies like Hindustan Times, Economic Times, TOI, ABP, CNBC, WION, Mint, ZEE, ABN, Jagran, and ASIANET published articles in March 2023 suggesting that PM Modi was a leading contender for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, citing Toje’s comments.
During this search, we also found multiple articles (here, here) stating that Asle Toje, while speaking to the news agency ANI, denied the media claims that he referred to PM Modi as the leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
It is also noteworthy to mention that the statutes of the Nobel Peace Prize enforce secrecy with respect to the details of the prospective candidates. Generally, the details of the nominees and nominators are not revealed until after 50 years. This restriction applies even to the investigations and opinions related to the award of a prize. Detailed statutes of the Nobel Foundation can be viewed here & here.
Factly previously fact-checked a similar claim in March 2023 stating that Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Nobel Prize Committee, mentioned Indian PM Modi as the leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
To sum up, there is no evidence to suggest that Indian Prime Minister Modi has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo.
