Video of Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation misrepresented as Modi’s escape
A video has been circulating on Facebook with the claim that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fled. The video shows West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and includes a voice-over saying that he submitted his resignation letter after hearing that Modi had fled and is now apologizing to the public. However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the footage is from an earlier incident involving Adhikari’s resignation from the Nandigram Assembly constituency in May 2026.
A Facebook page called “New Saiful” posted the video on October 18. Three pieces of footage can be seen playing simultaneously on the screen. The footage at the top shows West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. In the footage at the bottom right, a man can be heard saying, “After hearing that Narendra Modi has fled, Suvendu Adhikari submitted his resignation letter and is now asking everyone for forgiveness. Will the public forgive him? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and share this so the whole world has a chance to know.”
Video circulated with the false claim
Carrying out a reverse image search with keyframes from the footage led to a report by Indian news outlet NDTV. Published on May 15, 2026, the report stated that West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had resigned from the Nandigram Assembly constituency. He won both the Nandigram and Bhabanipur seats in the 2026 Assembly election. He later retained the Bhabanipur seat and resigned from Nandigram.
Reports by Indian news outlet Anandabazar Patrika and news agency ANI also reported (1,2) Adhikari’s resignation from the Nandigram seat. A video published by ANI on May 15 also contains the footage seen in the circulating video.
All the reports cited his decision to give up one seat after winning two constituencies as the reason for his resignation. None of these reports contained any information that Adhikari had resigned because Narendra Modi had fled or that he had apologized to the public.
In other words, the video circulated with the claim that Narendra Modi had fled shows a different event. It uses footage of Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation from the Nandigram Assembly constituency in May 2026, accompanied by a voice-over promoting an unrelated claim.
