Fact-Check: Ajit Doval did say ISI recruited more Hindus than Muslims, deepfake claim false
New Delhi: Days after the November 10 terrorist attack near Delhi’s Red Fort that killed at least 13 people and injured many others, a video of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval resurfaced on social media, sparking widespread debate. In the 35-second clip, Doval is heard saying that “more Hindus than Muslims have been recruited for ISI tasks in India.” The video was shared by several users attempting to counter communal narratives that emerged following the blast.
Shortly after the clip went viral, Doval told CNN-News18 that the video was a “deepfake” and insisted he had never made such a statement.
He said the clip was likely created to distort public opinion and target India’s counter-terrorism narrative. Moneycontrol later also published a report echoing his claim.
However, a detailed fact-check by Alt News showed that the viral video was not fake. The organisation conducted a reverse image search of keyframes from the clip and traced it to a 1 hour 17 minute lecture uploaded on YouTube by the Australia India Institute on March 20, 2014. The original lecture was delivered on March 11, 2014 — long before deepfake tools became commonly known or widely used.
At around the 1:04:00 mark of the authentic video, Doval can be heard clearly stating that the number of individuals recruited by Pakistan’s ISI for intelligence tasks in India included “more Hindus than Muslims,” adding that out of more than 4,000 cases since 1947, “probably not even 20 percent would be Muslims.” The fact-check confirms that these remarks were indeed made by Doval over a decade ago.
Alt News also noted that the viral clip circulating now is a short excerpt from a much longer lecture in which Doval repeatedly warns against viewing terrorism through a communal lens. In his full address, he stressed that national security is not a Hindu versus Muslim issue, and pointed out that Indian Muslims have historically opposed terrorism. He referenced the 2012 Ramleela Maidan gathering where 50,000 Maulanas issued a fatwa against global terrorism, and said that casualties of Islamic terrorism globally have overwhelmingly been Muslims themselves. He also noted that top Islamic leaders in India had been on the target list of the Indian Mujahideen.
In the lecture, Doval added that a small violent fringe is often mistaken for the voice of Islam, whereas the majority of Indian Muslims reject violence. He also recalled that Indian Muslims made significant contributions to the freedom movement.
Alt News concluded that the viral video is genuine and not AI-generated, and that NSA Doval’s recent claim calling it a deepfake is incorrect. The fact-check, while confirming the authenticity of the clip, also points out that selective circulation of a short excerpt strips away the broader context of Doval’s full remarks on terrorism, national security and communal harmony.
Fake News by @CNNnews18 claiming Ajit Doval's video is a Deep-Fake. In 2014, NSA Ajit Doval did say ISI recruited more Hindus than Muslims in India. Here is a Fact Check: https://t.co/kuTD1MN8f2 https://t.co/GaF1kMRPnO pic.twitter.com/dVFvChLxy6
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) November 17, 2025
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Centre's conspiracy to change federal structure defeated; victory of oppn unity: Priyanka
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Centre of conspiring to change the federal structure of the country in the garb of women's reservation, asserting that the defeat of its bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the women’s quota law was a victory for the Constitution as well as opposition unity.
She also demanded that the government implement the Women's Reservation Act of 2023 on the current strength of the Lok Sabha.
“What happened yesterday was a big win for democracy. The conspiracy to change the federal structure (of the country) was defeated. It was a victory for the Constitution, opposition unity, and the country,” the Congress general secretary said at a press conference.
“When Home Minister Amit Shah was speaking in the Lok Sabha on Friday, he said the Congress will not be able to sit on the treasury benches for years, which shows their mindset,” Priyanka said.
"The whole conspiracy was to stay in power. They thought that if delimitation is not done now, it would not be done before 2029 to stay in power," she said.
This was being done by giving the excuse of women, she said, adding that the government would have done delimitation according to its own wishes.
"They thought that if the bill passes, it is fine. If it fails, we will project the opposition as anti-women and become the messiah of women.
“It is not easy to become the messiah of women. We saw what happened to women in Hathras, what happened to our Olympic medallists, and others," Priyanka said.
“The opposition could not have supported the move. It showed that the opposition can defeat them when united,” she added.
In a major setback to the government, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lower House on Friday.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 to secure Parliament's approval for the bill.
After the bill was defeated, the Congress on Friday said the "nefarious attempt" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to link their "dangerous delimitation proposals" to women's reservation has been decisively defeated in the Lok Sabha, calling it a win for democracy and the Constitution.
