President Murmu Spoke About Attack on Minorities in India? No, Clip Is Altered!

We were able to find the original clip where President Murmu did not mention anything about minorities or freedom.

Fact-Check: This video is digitally altered and not real, as claimed.

(Source: The Quint) 

A video claiming to show President Draupadi Murmu discussing the present condition of freedom and secularism in India is being shared on social media.

• In the video, she reportedly raises issues regarding alleged limitations on freedom of expression, the right to protest, and civil liberties, along with the diminishing of secularism in India, where minorities are being targeted.

Here's what she said:

"I am concerned that individual liberties, in which the freedom of expression, the right to oppose, and the freedom of the citizen, are gradually being restricted. Although the Indian Constitution maintains impartiality, due to increasing religious bias, its impartiality is becoming weak. Even now, the non-religious communities are facing discrimination, oppression, and discrimination. Whereas the rigid ideologies are becoming more common in society and politics. At this time, our country needs an honest self-examination so that these challenges can be identified and solved. Only through honesty, responsibility, and collective effort can we re-establish faith and strengthen our democratic values."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/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, President Murmu did not make any such statements about minorities or freedom of expression.

What we found: At first, we ran a relevant keyword search to find whether such remarks were said by President Murmu. However, we did not find anything to prove the viral claim.

• We, then, divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• It led us to a video on YouTube on the President of India’s official channel from 26 November.

• It showed President Murmu’s speech during the ‘Samvidhan Divas’ (Constitution Day) event in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan.

• In the speech, the President commended the Parliament for bringing to life the principles of justice, freedom, equality, and brotherhood.

• She emphasised key accomplishments featuring economic advancements, social justice reforms, women's empowerment and the substitution of colonial-era criminal laws with legislation focused on justice.

• The President praised the rise in democratic involvement, particularly among women and marginalised groups, and voiced optimism about India's path to becoming a developed nation.

• Nowhere in her speech did President Murmu speak about the alleged limitations to civil liberties and attack on minorities in India.

• Additionally, we noticed that the Hindi pronunciation of several words said in the viral video were either unclear or incorrect. Both these points led us to note that the viral clip was altered.

• An audio was added over President Murmu's speech from 26 November.

PIB fact-check: The Press Information Bureau's fact-check unit also examined the viral video and noted that it was digitally altered and not real.

Conclusion: An altered clip of President Murmu is being shared to falsely claim that she addressed an audience and spoke about the alleged limitations to civil liberties and freedom of expression in India.

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