In the wake of the terrorist attack in New Delhi on November 10 that left at least 13 dead and many others injured, a video of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval saying that “more Hindus than Muslims have been recruited for ISI tasks in India” went viral. The 35-second clip was widely shared by many to counter the trend of blaming minorities following the attack.

Several people on X shared the video.

NSA Doval Calls Viral Video Fake

Soon after the video went viral, NSA Doval claimed it was a “deepfake”. In a statement to news channel CNN-News18 on November 17, he said he never said such a thing and that the video was likely created to manipulate public opinion. He also said that such media tools are often used to distort issues related to national security, and that the clips being circulated are an attempt to target India’s counter-terrorism narrative.

After this, Moneycontrol also published a report reiterating Doval’s statement to CNN-News18. (Archive)

Fact Check: Doval Did Say That

To verify whether or not the viral video was a deepfake, we conducted a reverse image search of some keyframes and found that the purported clip was taken from a 1-hour 17-minute YouTube video uploaded by the Australia India Institute on March 20, 2014.

At the 1:04:00-minute mark of the video, Doval says, “Let me tell you one small thing, now that I have been exposed as a person (saying this)… the number of persons that ISI has recruited for intelligence tasks in India, there have been more Hindus than Muslims. All the number of cases from 1947… more than 4,000 cases, probably not even 20% would be Muslims. So it’s a very wrong concept. We will carry the Muslims with us, and we will make it a great country.”

This was a lecture Doval delivered as part of the Global Challenges Series on March 11, 2014, hosted by the Australia India Institute. It is unlikely that the 2014 video of the lecture was a deepfake or AI-generated, since the technology was not as widely known used then.

Readers should note that Doval made this statement when he was asked about India’s response to terror threats faced by the country. He says that talking to the Ulemas, convincing them and working out a joint strategy, making them partners and pressing them into action was the best way forward. “The casualties of Islamic terrorism have been Muslims 90% and 10% non-Muslims, and they are aware of it.” He goes on to say that the top Indian Indian Islamic leaders were on the target lists of the Indian Mujahideen, following which security was provided.

Before he said that, Doval also stated that terrorism should not be viewed through a communal lens because when it comes to fighting terror, it’s not a “Muslim population” versus “Hindu population” issue but a national problem. He emphasised that Indian Muslims have consistently opposed terrorism, citing the 2012 Ramleela Maidan gathering where 50,000 Maulanas issued a fatwa against global terrorism. According to him, no Hindu organisation took a similar stand publicly. He also stressed that the small, violent fringe is often mistaken for the voice of Islam, even though the majority of Indian Muslims reject violence. Historically, too, Indian Muslims made significant contributions to the independence struggle, he said before adding that national security concerns should not be linked to communal identity.

Thus, to sum up, NSA Ajit Doval, in a 2014 lecture on Global Terrorism, did say that the ISI had recruited more Hindus than Muslims for intelligence tasks in India. The viral video is clipped from his long lecture, wherein he clearly urges not linking communal and national identities and refrains from referring to terrorism as a Muslim vs Hindu issue. That said, his statement that the viral footage was a deepfake or AI-generated is false. Those remarks were indeed made by him.

This article was originally published on Alt News. 

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