India's foreign ministry debunks viral claim made during last week's protests

India's Ministry of External Affairs has fact-checked misleading social media posts that misrepresented the official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal's comments on allegations of foreign funding linked to last week's protests in Delhi. On Sunday, the ministry's official fact-checking account, @MEAFactCheck, stated that the circulating post "is misleading and misrepresents the statement of the Spokesperson." The post in question had claimed the spokesperson confirmed that "intelligence and investigations" showed "there is no Foreign funding" in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests claimed by a social media handle "@Nher_who".

Responding to a journalist's question about allegations of foreign funding and related claims connected to the protests, Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday said: "regarding the point you raised about allegations of foreign funding and other such claims in connection with the ongoing protests, I would like to say that I do not have any information on this matter to share with you at this time." The comment basically pointed that foreign ministry has no information, and relevant agencies of the Indian govt can give details about it.

Another post, published by the account "PulseNewsBreaking" on 24 July, asserted that the foreign ministry had clarified there was "no Pakistan funding" and "no hand of Chinese agents" behind the demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The post, which appeared in both Telugu and English versions, quoted MEA spokesperson. This claim was also debunked as mischievous mis-representation of MEA comments.

During the protests, India's PIB fact check also clamped down on many Pakistan based social media handles that made deep fake videos of Indian leaders. The videos made claims on the protests that had the potential to inflame the situation. The PIB Fact Check pointed how AI-generated deepfake videos of Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Union minister JP Nadda, CDS General NS Raja Subramani were released.

The CJP, a youth-led outfit that began as online satire, has organised sustained demonstrations at Delhi's Jantar Mantar in recent weeks. Protesters demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated irregularities and paper leaks in national examinations, including NEET, which have fuelled widespread anger among students and families. The group has also called for assurances against criminal cases targeting demonstrators and compensation for families of students who died by suicide linked to exam issues.