An alleged live recorded video of a Union Cabinet meeting is being shared on social media claiming that in a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Narendra Modi government called for the removal of all Sikh Generals from the Indian army. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of Union Cabinet Committee discussion to remove all Sikh Generals from the Indian Army.
Fact: The video shared in the post is a doctored one. This video was created by adding audio of a clubhouse discussion to the visuals of the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, held on 08 December 2021. PIB through a tweet clarified that the Union Cabinet Committee had no such discussion or meeting to remove Sikh Generals from the Indian army. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, it is found that the video shared in the post shows the visuals of the meeting of the Union Cabinet Committee on Security, held on 08 December 2021. Reporting the complete details of the meeting, several news websites published articles in December 2021. They can be seen here and here. However, it is nowhere reported that in the meeting, the Union Cabinet Committee on security had discussed the proposal of removing Sikh Generals from the Indian army.
When we searched for more information regarding this video circulating on social media, we found a tweet made by ‘India Today’ Journalist Shiv Aroor on 07 January 2022. Shiv Aroor confirmed it to be a doctored video created by altering the audio of the Union Cabinet committee’s meeting held on 08 December 2021. Several Twitter users have also mentioned that the audio in this video is from a discussion in the Clubhouse, a voice-based social media application. Those tweets can be seen here and here.
When we searched for sources of the audio overlayed in the video, the original clubhouse discussion audio was found in a tweet made by a user on 05 January 2022. Responding to a tweet made by the OpIndia Editor-In-Chief, Nupur Sharma, this Twitter user shared a clubhouse discussion in which Nupur Sharma was also one of the participants. A clubhouse participant named ‘Khal’ had allegedly made this controversial statement of removing all Sikh army personnel from the Indian Army.
On 07 January 2022, Nupur Sharma tweeted a TFI fact-check article that reported her clarification regarding this doctored clip circulating on social media. Nupur Sharma confirmed to TFI that these statements were indeed made by an individual in response to several Khalistani elements on Clubhouse proclaiming that India must be thankful to them because they are the ones who have saved the nation and even Hindus on numerous occasions.
When this doctored video clip went viral on social media, PIB through a tweet clarified that the ‘Government of India’ held no such discussion or meeting to remove Sikh Generals from the Indian army. PIB confirmed that the video circulating on social media is fake.
To sum it up, a doctored video clip is falsely shared as visuals of the meeting of Union Cabinet Committee on Security to remove Sikh Generals from the Indian Army.
