Fact Check: Sachin Pilot says govt forced Indian team to quit Oxford Union debate? No, video is AI-manipulated

Hyderabad: A diplomatic row erupted online on Thursday after the Pakistan High Commission in the UK accused Indian speakers of backing out of a debate at the Oxford Union titled ‘India’s Policy Towards Pakistan is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy.’

The High Commission’s tweet claimed India had lost by ‘walkover’ and listed former Army Chief General MM Naravane, Subramanian Swamy and Congress leader Sachin Pilot among the scheduled participants.

Amid this, a viral clip in which Sachin Pilot appears to allege that he was ready for a discussion at the Oxford Union, but that the Indian delegation walked out due to directives from the Central government.

The text overlay on the video read, ‘Sachin Pilot on Oxford Union Debate’.

One X user posted the clip with the caption, “My report from yesterday has now been confirmed by Sachin Pilot. The Indian delegation’s walkout happened under pressure from the Modi govt. Why is the BJP humiliating my India on the world stage? (sic)” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral video has been altered using AI.

Source of the video

A closer look at the visuals revealed the India Today logo in the top-right corner. A Google reverse image search of a keyframe led us to the original footage uploaded by India Today on October 5.

The video was titled ‘Sachin Pilot Denied Jail Visit to NSUI Rajasthan President Detained After RSS Protest | IndiaToday’. It shows Pilot addressing the media about NSUI Rajasthan President Vinod Jakhar, who had been detained after a protest related to an RSS event.

The full report explains that Sachin Pilot tried to meet Jakhar in jail but was denied permission. Pilot is heard speaking about Jakhar’s arrest, the charges filed against him and his belief that the judicial process will allow him to meet the NSUI leader soon. At no point in the original video does he mention the Oxford Union debate, Pakistan, government pressure or any international event.

Analysis of the video

A comparison of the two videos clearly shows that none of the lines heard in the viral clip exist in the original footage. The tone, pacing and lip movement do not match Pilot’s real speech, indicating that the audio was artificially generated and placed over genuine visuals.

To further verify authenticity, NewsMeter analysed the viral clip using the AI detection platform Deepfake-O-Meter. Four of its detectors flagged the video as containing AI-generated content, with confidence scores of 92.7%, 92.9%, 99.3% and 89%. This strongly indicates that the viral audio has been synthetically created.

Did the Indian delegation walk out of the Oxford Union Debate?

We also found Supreme Court lawyer J Sai Deepak posted a detailed timeline of events on his X account on November 28, countering Pakistan’s claim. He explained that no such walkout happened as alleged by the Pakistan High Commission.

1. Trust the Pakistanis to make a pigsty even out of the @OxfordUnion. And as always, they are genetically incapable of being truthful. So here's the complete story of how this so-called debate played out. https://t.co/I74r18vZR6

— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) November 28, 2025

The video circulating online does not show Sachin Pilot accusing the government of forcing a withdrawal from an Oxford Union debate. The viral clip uses AI-generated audio over visuals from an unrelated India Today news report. There is no evidence that Pilot made any such statement.

Therefore, the claim is false. The video has been AI-manipulated.