AI-generated video of Indian army official criticising government policies shared as real
- Published on November 15, 2025 at 08:02
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
The push from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to promote Hindu nationalism since coming into power has been criticised for putting the country's policy of secularism in danger. But a video purportedly showing a senior Indian army official criticising Modi circulating online is actually made with AI. The clip contains visual signs that it was fabricated, and it appears to be based on a televised speech by the official, where he did not make the remarks.
"Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai (Retd) slams #BJP & #NarendraModi's politics, warns that any saffronisation or politicisation of the Indian Armed Forces will destroy morale," reads part of an X post shared on October 23, 2025.
The 35-second clip shows Ghai -- a senior Indian army official who communicated with his Pakistani counterparts on the ceasefire that halted days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May -- dressed in full military uniform speaking on a podium (archived here and here).
It starts with him saying: "As a senior officer who has devoted decades to the service of this uniform, I say this with deep concern. The growing influence of saffron politics is corroding the core values of the Indian Army."
In the remainder of the clip, Ghai says that the army's strength lies in discipline, unity, and adherence to constitutional duty, rather than in religious polarisation.
Saffronisation in this context refers to the process of politicising public knowledge, culture, and institutions through the promotion of a right-wing, Hindu nationalist ideology, or Hindutva, which is often associated with Modi's BJP party (archived link).
Calls for India to more closely align the country's officially secular political system with its majority Hindu faith have rapidly grown louder since Modi was swept to office in 2014.
But some of Modi's policies have been criticised as discriminatory against Muslims and putting secularism in danger -- including the Citizenship Amendment Act adopted in 2019 that granted citizenship to refugees in India, but not if they are Muslim (archived link).
Similar claims circulated on Facebook and X, with some user comments indicating that they believe the video shows genuine remarks from Ghai.
"Ahh... as we know very well, Modi can do anything for the election. The Dirty Harry of India," said one user.
Another wrote: "India is already isolated; the military shouldn't be part of any politics".
Indian fact-checker Factly has also debunked the claim (archived link).
A close inspection of the video reveals it shows signs it was generated with AI -- these include Ghai's lip movements not matching the audio, and the word "DEFENCE" under Indian news channel Republic TV's logo on the top left changing into gibberish from time to time.
The graphic behind Ghai in the original video moves, while that in the false video is static.
An analysis using Hive's AI detection tool also indicates a 99.5 percent likelihood that the video was AI-generated (archived link).
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the circulating clip shows it appears to be based on a YouTube video published on October 18, 2025 by Republic TV titled "Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai LIVE On India's Biggest Forces First Conclave" (archived link).
In the clip, Ghai discussed India's preparedness for future conflicts, calling "Operation Sindoor" -- India's name for its missile strikes on Pakistan in May -- an example of precision and multi-domain warfare while maintaining escalation control.
He also highlighted the importance of joint commands, technology-driven warfare, and efforts to counter misinformation, but did not mention politicisation or the so-called saffronisation of the army.
AFP has published a guide on how to identify AI-generated content.
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