Video shows Dubai’s 2023 National Day, not Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia

RS Team

26 October, 2025 2:25 pm

Recently, a video has been circulated on the internet with the claim of being a Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia.

The same video is being circulated most widely from Indian accounts.

See posts circulated from Bangladeshi accounts here (Archive), here (Archive), here (Archive), here (Archive).

See the video circulated on Instagram here (Archive).

See posts circulated from Indian accounts here (Archive), here (Archive), here (Archive).

Fact-Check

An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team found that the video in question is not a Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia. The video is not even from Saudi Arabia. In reality, the video shows the celebration of Dubai’s 52nd National Day in December 2023, which is being circulated with the claim in question.

An investigation found a video published on December 03, 2023, from a YouTube channel named ‘Kalyan Basnet’. This video exactly matches the video in question.

The caption of the video mentions that the scene is the celebration of the United Arab Emirates’ 52nd National Day in Dubai. Furthermore, an observation of the YouTube channel shows that it is operated from the United Arab Emirates.

Subsequently, the same video was also posted on December 03, 2023, on the TikTok account of UAE TikTok influencer Hamza Aly.

Hamza Aly also mentioned in his post that this is a video of the UAE National Day celebration.

Following this lead, an investigation found a report published on the website of the Middle Eastern media outlet Gulf News on December 01, 2023, which stated that the head of state had planned three days of celebrations across various cities in the United Arab Emirates from December 02, 2023, for the 52nd National Day.

A report published on the same date on the website of the UAE media outlet Time out Abu Dhabi states that the country’s 52nd National Day was celebrated with Commemoration Day on December 01, 2023, and National Day on December 02 and 03.

In other words, the circulated video is a scene of the United Arab Emirates’ 52nd National Day celebration in December 2023.

Additionally, a search with relevant keywords found no information in the media or reliable sources about a recent Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia.

Therefore, a scene of the United Arab Emirates’ 52nd National Day celebration in December 2023 is being circulated with the claim that it is a recent Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia; which is completely false.