Fact Check: Viral Video claiming Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai warned against Saffronization is Digitally Manipulated

In May 2025, India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor, targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. These strikes came in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 innocent lives.

Following Operation Sindoor, a surge of fake news, misinformation, and propaganda campaigns emerged on social media, attempting to tarnish India’s global image. The Government of India acted swiftly to curb these misleading narratives through periodic media briefings, keeping both the press and citizens informed.

During this period, several doctored videos and manipulated images were circulated online. Old footage of military exercises or crashes from other conflicts—such as the Ukraine-Russia war—was falsely presented as recent Indian events. Some accounts even used video game simulations to create fake battlefield visuals.

Coordinated hashtag campaigns like #IndianFalseFlag and #PahalgamDramaExposed were launched to discredit the Indian government after the April 2025 terror attack. Analysis revealed that over 75% of posts using these hashtags originated from Pakistani accounts, many aligned with pro-government or pro-military narratives.

A new video showing Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai has gone viral on social media, with claims that he openly criticized BJP politics. The viral clip alleges that he said, “Any politicization or saffronization of the armed forces will lead to a defeat in the morale of the Indian Armed Forces. The army will resist all attempts to make it subservient to Hindutva.”

The video displays the Republic TV logo in the background and an R Defence logo at the top-left corner, suggesting it was part of a Republic broadcast. Posts sharing the video can be found here:

Here is the screenshot of the claim.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. The viral video is digitally manipulated.

When keyframes from the viral clip were extracted and subjected to a reverse image search, the results led to the original video from the Forces First Conclave, conducted by the Republic Media Network. The original footage was published on October 18, 2025, on Republic World’s official YouTube channel, titled “Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai LIVE on India’s Biggest Forces First Conclave.”

Further verification shows that the Forces First Conclave is India’s largest military conference, organized by Republic TV. According to Republic’s report on the event, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy), delivered a strong message to Pakistan, stating that India was ready for Operation 2.0 if provoked again.

He elaborated on Operation Sindoor, India’s future war preparedness, and even called out Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir’s bluff about a potential conflict with India.

In his authentic speech, Lt Gen Ghai stated, “The Operation Sindoor kind of experiences are moments you actually wear the uniform for. The Indian Army soldier is the best soldier in the world. The Indian Army emerged victorious at the end of the conflict with Pakistan due to the efforts of our soldiers, gallant air warriors, and the Indian Navy.” He further emphasized that Operation Sindoor marked a watershed moment in India’s doctrinal evolution.

“It transformed deterrence into compellance and restraint into assertion. It established India’s capacity to apply calibrated military power across multiple domains while maintaining control of the escalation matrix.”

The general never made any reference to politics, saffronization, or Hindutva during the conclave.

The PIB Fact Check handle also confirmed that the viral video was a deepfake. It posted: “Pakistani propaganda accounts are circulating a digitally altered video of Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai with false claims suggesting he said that politicization or saffronization of the Indian Armed Forces would damage the morale of the Army.”

PIB clarified that Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai has not made any such statement. The agency urged users to report such misleading content via phone (+91 8799711259) or email ([email protected]).

The viral video of Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai allegedly criticizing the government is AI-generated and digitally manipulated. The general did not issue any statement about the politicization or saffronization of the Indian Armed Forces. The claim is False.