Fact Check: Anti-UGC rally? No, video shows land border protest in Rajasthan

Hyderabad: The University Grants Commission (UGC) rolled out new equity regulations against caste discrimination in educational institutions on January 13.

The new guidelines led to protests by several organisations, including the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, along with student bodies and upper-caste groups who criticised the rules as vague and discriminatory. Among these demonstrations, the Savarna Sena organised a protest in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on February 21, demanding that the regulations be rolled back.

Amid the ongoing incidents, a video surfaced on social media claiming to show a protest against the UGC. A large crowd, with people riding on trucks, can be seen marching through a street. The truck at the front of the rally carries a large banner with Hindi phrases that translate to “dharna and protest demonstration.”

Several users shared the video on X and Facebook and wrote, “When a fire breaks out in a forest, it eventually dies down… The Modi government has brought the UGC (guidelines) to destroy its own government.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive 1 and Archive 2)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. A video of a protest against the Rajasthan government over district boundary changes was falsely shared as an anti-UGC protest.

What was the protest about?

We closely reviewed the banner on the truck and found that the protest in the video was organised on January 3, as the date was visible on the large banner. However, the year and location of the protest rally were not visible due to the low video quality.

For further analysis, we divided the video into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search. This led us to a Facebook post, dated January 14, where the video was shared with the caption, “How many people came to the Dhorimanna Jan Aakah Maha rally today?” (Translated from Hindi).

Using this information, we started searching with relevant keywords and found several videos that matched the viral video.

A video uploaded on YouTube on January 14, from a channel named Kalu Mali, featured the same truck with the banner seen in the viral video. We compared the two clips and found that the banner was identical, and the truck’s name, ‘Ranveer’, was visible in both videos.

The banner on YouTube was clearly visible and read that a sit-in protest had been held from January 3 by 36 communities against shifting the Muhamalani and Dhorimanna subdivisions from the Barmer district to the Balotra district.

We found other videos of the Dhorimanna protest rally on YouTube and Instagram, where the truck with the large banner is visible.

What was the news coverage about the Dhorimanna protest?

According to a report by The Indian Express dated January 14, Congress held a ‘Jan Aakrosh Rally’ in Dhorimanna, Barmer district, to protest proposed boundary changes between Barmer and Balotra districts. Former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and other Congress leaders joined the protest site.

The report further stated that senior leader Hemaram Choudhary began a dharna in Dhorimanna on January 3 against the changes.

The protest followed a State government notification on December 31, 2025, which transferred Dhorimanna and Gudamalani sub-divisions to Balotra and moved Baytu back to Barmer. The Congress leadership joined the protest later on January 14.

Congress leader and former Rajasthan MLA Sukhram Bishnoi and Rajasthan University Student Union leader Nirmal Choudhary shared visuals of the rally on Instagram, which show similarities with the viral video.

The viral video is from protests in Rajasthan against the proposed boundary changes of two districts.

It may have been recorded on January 14, when the video first surfaced, or earlier, since the protests began on January 3.

However, it is clear that the clip does not show an anti-UGC protest.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is false.