Claim: Deputy Leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Asle Toje, has said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the “biggest contender” for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Conclusion: The claim is misleading. While Toje praised PM Modi’s stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, he did not directly endorse him and has clarified this officially.
Rating: Misleading — 
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Several video claims shared by social media users, showing a video clip of Nobel Prize committee deputy leader Asle Toje, attributing that he endorsed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “biggest contender” for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Shared by a verified X user ‘amarDgreat’, the video was purportedly taken from Times Now TV channel claiming the same. View the post below.
Deputy leader of the Noble Peace Prize committee Asle Toje said:
“Prime Minister Modi is the Biggest contender for Noble prize” 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/C4YzcoJfw8
— Stranger (@amarDgreat) September 10, 2025
An Instagram page ‘defenceralerts’ shared similar claim with the caption: “Deputy Leader of Nobel Peace Prize says, ‘PM @narendramodi is the biggest contender for the #NobelPeacePrize.’ The post gained over 16,000 likes and can be viewed here:
View this post on Instagram
These claims seem to be motivated to trigger new competition to US President Donald Trump, who is a known contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Some posts even suggest that President Trump would be infuriated further if PM Modi receives the Nobel Peace Prize, and that Trump will put additional 25 percent tariff on India.
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and discovered that it is misleading.
When we took some key frames of the video and images and searched in Google reverse image, we found videos and new reports about his visit to India in March 2023.
Deputy leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Asle Toje visited India in March 2023, and said he was in India not as a deputy leader of the committee but as a director of “Internationa Peace and Understanding” and as a friend of “India Center Foundation (ICF).” He praised PM Modi’s efforts to end the Ukraine-Russian war, and he never linked it to Nobel Peace Prize candidacy.
He further clarified that the remarks attributed to him regarding PM Narendra Modi as a Nobel Prize contender are false and that he never made any such statement before media. He said that TV news channels and viral posts are spreading the false news. It may be noted that the Nobel Committee never openly endorses anybody for any post as per their strict rules.
See the video posted by Hindustan Times in 2023:
Click on the below image to see what he said about India and Modi posted by another channel @IndianCompass
A report by the CNBC news which also covers this incident does not make any mention of such a quote.See the detailed report by Hindustan Times here.
Back on March 16, 2023, Newslaundry in an Instagram post called out the fake tweet and news circulated by Times Now. The post can be viewed here.
Asle Toje did not endorse PM Modi as a contender and he has clarified it clearly. Hence, the claim is misleading.
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