CDS Chauhan Did Not Say BJP Used Army for Bihar Elections; Clip Is Altered!

In the original clip, Chauhan spoke about India's maritime capabilities in the events of the 20th century.

Fact-Check: This video is not real as CDS as not made any such statements. 

(Source: The Quint) 

As the voting for the Bihar elections concluded on 11 November, a video featuring Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Anil Chauhan is being shared on social media, alleging that he claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would lose the election due to their use of the Indian Army for electoral gain.

Here's what he purportedly said:

"I think that the BJP's expected loss at Bihar elections are mainly because of one single reason that they have kept using the Indian Army as a bait to prop up their image. A professional army always fights for their country, but ever since PM Modi came into power, he always considered the Indian Army as the concubine of his political party. This is exactly why we oppose the of the Indian Army. In Bihar elections, I told my fellow jawans that you need to spread this slogan, and it has worked well."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Instagram/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this video is altered.

• In the original clip, CDS Chauhan spoke about India's maritime capabilities.

• The Press Information Bureau's (PIB) fact-check unit also clarified that the viral video was fake.

What we found: At first, we divided the viral video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• It led us to a post by news agency ANI which featured a clip of Chauhan, similar to the viral video.

• He could be heard saying that while historical events such as Partition and wars had compelled India to adopt a continental outlook, the country’s geography made it both a continental and maritime power with strategic depth in the Indian Ocean.

• Chauhan further noted that India’s limited overland access due to its borders restricted trade and movement, suggesting that the nation’s long-term growth and destiny would rely more on the seas than on the continental landmass.

• No where did he mention about the BJP or the results for the Bihar elections, as claimed in the viral video.

• Team WebQoof looked for its longer version and found it on YouTube from 9 November. He attended the ninth military literature festival closing ceremony in Chandigarh.

• We went through his entire speech but found no mentions of the content said in the viral video.

PIB Clarification: The PIB's fact-check unit clarified and stated that a doctored clip of CDS Chauhan was being circulated by Pakistani propaganda social media handles.

• It added that the CDS had not made any such statement and the video has been "AI-generated to spread misinformation and undermine faith in the Indian Armed Forces."

Team WebQoof did not find any news reports or official statements which hinted that CDS Chauhan had made any comments against the BJP.

• The team also noticed several discrepancies in the lip movements of CDS Chauhan as the words being said did not match.

Conclusion: A doctored audio has been added over CDS Chauhan's video to falsely claim that he said that the BJP was using the Indian army to win Bihar elections.

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