Deepfake Rajnath Singh Video Fuels False India–China Border Claims

An AI-generated audio clip puts false words in Rajnath Singh’s mouth, falsely portraying him as questioning the Army over India–China border tensions.

Amid the face-offs between Indian and Chinese forces continuing at several locations along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh, China is building a 60,000 MW dam at Medog in Tibet. At the same time, India proposed the 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, which has faced protests from local Adi tribes over fears of displacement and ecological harm.

However, running parallel to these tensions, a flurry of false claims and manufactured narratives has been circulated across various social media accounts, spreading misinformation.

Over the past few weeks, OBC has investigated and fact-checked how cross-border disputes have been taken out of context and manipulated to create mistrust between the Indian Armed Forces and the government.

A viral video of Rajnath Singh has circulated online with captions claiming that he said Army personnel exaggerate India-China border tensions to undermine the BJP government.

OBC found that the visuals were digitally altered using deepfake technology and the claim is misleading.

What is the viral claim?

On 30 October, an X user named NetaNama posted a video showing Defence Minister Rajnath Singh making remarks about the India–China border situation and Indian Army personnel.

The post carries the caption: “Some Army personnel are exaggerating India-China border tensions to undermine the BJP government. The Army receives full government support and increased funding. “ If there are genuine concerns, why has only the Army raised them, while the Air Force and Navy have remained silent?” — Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister.

As of 31 October, the video had garnered 60k views and 227 likes on X.

The comment section is filled with anger and frustration. One user commented, “BJP will sell our country bit by bit.” At the same time, another questioned the involvement of the military, remarking, ‘Now the dare of this fascist has risen to a level where they are defaming army personnel to cover their own failure. What a shame.”

The video has also spread across several accounts on X. A user named @BabaThoka shared the same video with the same caption.

As of 31 October, the post had amassed more than 8.4k views. Our team has already investigated and uncovered that BabaThoka is an X account that frequently posts content criticising the Indian military and government.

What are the facts?

We analysed the viral post and conducted a detailed search of official records and credible news reports and found no authentic reports supporting the claim made in the viral video. 

A reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video led us to the original video uploaded by ANI on 26 October, 2026.

According to the video and news reports, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the media in New Delhi, expressing his deep shock and disappointment over Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks targeting PM Modi’s late father, and criticised the party for defending the comments instead of offering an apology.

In addition, we used AI video detection tools to assess whether the video was generated using AI.  

The results estimated a 99.9% likelihood that the video’s audio was AI-generated.

Therefore, the viral claim is misleading. The video circulating as footage of Rajnath Singh is actually from an October 26, 2026, address to the media regarding Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks. It is not related to the India–China border situation or the armed forces. Unrelated visuals have once again been repurposed with AI-generated audio to distort the narrative about the Indian Army. This is another instance of fabricated content being used to spread disinformation.