Fact checkDefence
A video has Rajnath Singh telling soldiers their morale is 'very low'. What he said in Sikkim was the opposite
The clip, shared as a Diwali message to troops, puts the words in the Defence Minister's mouth. His real address at the Sherathang War Memorial on November 8 praised the soldiers, and the Army's fact-check unit calls the clip manipulated.
The claim
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told soldiers on Diwali: 'I know that your morale is very low. Along with you, our morale is also low.'
Claim by: Anonymous social media accounts, including @BabaThokaIndia on X
Seen on: X, from November 9, 2026, captioned 'Rajnath Singh Celebrates Diwali with Soldiers', first seen November 9, 2026
Verdict: False
- True
- Mostly true
- Misleading
- False
What we found
The claim is false. A clip circulating on X from November 9 has a voice sounding like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh saying: “I know that your morale is very low. Along with you, our morale is also low.” It was posted with the caption “Rajnath Singh Celebrates Diwali with Soldiers”. The Indian Army’s fact-check account the same day called it a digitally manipulated video and said Singh had not made those remarks.
The claim and the record
The evidence
What Singh actually said
On Sunday, November 8, 2026, Singh celebrated Diwali with Army personnel at the Sherathang War Memorial near the Nathu La pass in Sikkim, and paid tribute to the soldiers commemorated there. Reports of the event quote him saying: “Your discipline is your greatest strength,” and “Your service to the nation will never be forgotten. Every generation of Indians will remember your sacrifice.” He told the troops he was proud of their faces, their enthusiasm and their passion, and said citizens could sleep peacefully because of them. Neither report of the visit contains a remark about low morale.
The original video
The video of the interaction was uploaded to his official YouTube channel on November 8 under the title “Interaction with Indian Army personnel in Sikkim on the occasion of Diwali”. According to checks of the clip by others, it shows him paying tribute to the fallen and saying that the soldiers’ smile, energy and courage are “the biggest lights of this Diwali”. The words in the viral clip do not appear in it. We could not open the upload ourselves.
What the Army said
The Indian Army’s fact-check account on X posted on November 9 under the heading “Detect the Deepfake” that the clip was digitally manipulated, according to reports of the post. It named the accounts spreading it and asked people to check the original speech.
The audio
Two voice and image checkers, Hive Moderation and the Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, rated the clip’s audio as likely AI-generated, according to reports. Detectors give probabilities, so the finding does not rest on them. It rests on the fact that the speech as delivered, in the reports we read, says nothing of the kind.
Why this claim spread
The clip was dated to Diwali week and set at a border post, which made it look like a real moment from a real visit. Singh’s trip was widely reported, so a viewer could see the visit was genuine, and the false words were then laid over it. It came days after another doctored Singh video about India-China tensions was debunked by others, which shows how quickly such clips are recycled around a real event. The Army’s quick response on November 9 is the reason this one is on record as manipulated rather than left as a rumour.