Fact Check: General Neeraj Shukla slams BJP govt for using President Murmu for Bihar polls? No, video is AI-manipulated

Hyderabad: President Droupadi Murmu completed a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet at Ambala Air Force Station on October 29, becoming the first Indian President to fly in both the Sukhoi-30 MKI and Rafale jets.

The moment gained special significance as she appeared alongside Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, India’s first woman Rafale pilot, the same officer Pakistan had falsely claimed to have captured during ‘Operation Sindoor’.

Meanwhile, a video of Major General Neeraj Shukla, Additional Director General of Strategic Planning in the Indian Army, has been circulating, in which he allegedly criticises the Central government for using the President as a ‘prop’ for public relations to boost the BJP’s image ahead of the 2025 Bihar polls.

An X handle, The Whistel Blower, currently withheld in India (accessed using a VPN), shared the video claiming, “Major General Neeraj Shukla slams centre government for using President Droupadi Murmu as a public relations ploy to boost their party image. A President remains the symbol of the federation, stop using her for the Bihar elections.” (Archive)

General Shukla could be heard allegedly saying in the video, “I think it is a terrible idea that President Droupadi Murmu was used as a prop for the PR campaign around the Rafale jets. Such actions expose how poorly managed India’s public relations efforts have been. When I first heard Lieutenant General Vijay Gay say that the Indian army is now being subjected to saffronisation and politics, I had my doubts about his statement. But what the BJP government did yesterday, using President Murmu as a prop and circulating old 2023 photos to show her with Shivanji Singh, I believe that the entire exercise was a farce. This has turned into an insult to professional Indian army soldiers, reducing them to mere members of a political party rather than patriots with loyalty to the nation. It increasingly resembles what is happening in China, where the communist party and the army are one and the same. It seems that the BJP is trying to turn the Indian army into another version of the PLA.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the video has been manipulated using AI.

Did the media report General Shukla’s criticism of the government?

We conducted a comprehensive keyword search but found no credible reports of General Shukla criticising the government for allegedly using President Murmu for PR activities. Had an Indian Army general made such serious allegations against the government, it would have been widely covered by mainstream media outlets.

Discrepancies in the viral video

In the video, General Shukla is seen mispronouncing the names of President Droupadi Murmu and Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh. The footage also shows him referencing Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, who had allegedly expressed concerns over the politicisation and saffronisation of the Indian Army. However, NewsMeter’s investigation published on October 24 found that Ghai’s video was manipulated using AI technology, and no such statement was ever made by Ghai.

Also, the video shows General Shukla claiming that President Murmu’s photograph with Shivangi Singh is from 2023. In reality, the image was officially shared by the Rashtrapati Bhavan X account on October 29. The photo was taken at the Ambala Air Force Station after President Murmu undertook a historic sortie in a Rafale jet on October 29, 2025.

These discrepancies and false claims indicated that the viral clip had been manipulated.

Source of the video

The viral clip carried the logo of media outlet WION. Using this lead, we conducted a keyword search and found a 30-minute podcast featuring General Shukla with journalist Siddhant Sibbal, published on WION’s YouTube channel on October 29, titled, ‘Indian Army General: Homegrown Navigation System to Cover Africa to Malacca.’

We reviewed the complete podcast and found that General Shukla discussed the Army’s focus on self-reliance, technology and space capabilities, the upcoming Chanakya Defence Dialogue, and explained how the Army is preparing for the rapidly evolving nature of modern warfare.

However, he made no allegations about the government using President Murmu for PR activities, nor did he mention Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai.

Does the detection tool confirm manipulation?

We extracted the audio from the video and analysed it using Deepfake-O-Meter; three of its detectors concluded that the audio is AI-generated with confidence scores of 77.1 per cent, 100 per cent and 81.4 per cent, respectively.

Therefore, we conclude that the video has been manipulated by synchronising an AI-generated audio. Hence, the claim is false.