A video of YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy speaking to the media is being widely shared on social media (here, here, and here). In the video, he is allegedly heard responding to a question, “Would you pitch Hindi as the national language?” by saying, “What is there to pitch? Obviously, it is a national language.” Several social media users claim the video is a deepfake, arguing that the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister never made such a statement. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: A deepfake video shows YS Jagan Mohan Reddy referring to Hindi as the national language.
Fact: The viral video showing YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy referring to Hindi as the national language is authentic and not a deepfake. Analysis using AI detection tools showed no signs of manipulation. The clip is from a longer media interaction where Jagan supported English as the medium of instruction, stated that Hindi can be learned as a language, and responded affirmatively when asked about Hindi’s status. Multiple media reports also featured the same byte, confirming its authenticity. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon close examination, there were no signs of AI manipulation such as mismatched audio, unnatural lip-sync, or inconsistent facial expressions. We also analysed the video using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which gave a very low aggregate score of 10.7%, with 0% AI detected in both video and audio content. The viral clip of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy referring to Hindi as the national language appears to be a genuine excerpt from a longer press interaction. There is no evidence to suggest that the clip is a deepfake or has been tampered with.
We noticed that the viral video carries the RTV News logo in the top-right corner. Using this as a clue, we conducted a Google keyword search and found an X post by RTV News dated 16 July 2025, featuring the extended version of the same video. In the full video, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is seen responding to a reporter’s question on language policy. He says, “See, basically, the change that should be brought about is not Hindi. Hindi can also be a language which can be learned. But the medium of education should be English. This is the biggest change that should be brought throughout the country. If this country were to move forward and leap forward… see today, English is the global language. Until and unless the poor students studying in these government schools learn to speak fluent English, they can never be competitive. So, the medium of language should be English. Yes. Once the medium is established as English, you can have language one, language two, language three, depending on the choice of children, whatever they want to learn. As long as the mother tongue in those particular States, being a compulsory subject, is a language, that’s language one. Maybe language two, if there is an option, one always speaks Hindi. There’s nothing wrong. In fact, my first language was Hindi, even though my school was an English-medium school. First language: Hindi. In our school. Second language: Telugu. That’s a different issue.” In the end, when asked again if he would endorse Hindi as a national language, he replies, “What is there to pitch? Obviously, it is a national language.” With this, it is clear that the viral clip, where he refers to Hindi as a national language, is trimmed from this longer statement, where he clearly explains his balanced view on language education.
We also found multiple media video reports (here, here, and here) featuring the same byte seen in the viral clip, confirming that it is indeed part of Jagan’s actual statement to the media.
To sum up, this viral video of YS Jagan stating Hindi is the national language is real and not a deepfake.
