A short video clip has surfaced on social media platforms showing Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remark on the Indian government claiming that Khan has admitted that India hasn’t seen a government as “strong and iron-willed” in the last 73 years.

BJP member Chetan Bragta shared the video with the caption saying, "India under Modi Ji's leadership has become stronger and stronger. Imran Khan said Pakistan needs a powerful military because India has not got such a powerful government in 73 years. The enemy's fear shows that India is on the right path."

Shefali Vaidya also shared the video saying, "You cannot have a more ringing endorsement of @narendramodi  govt than this. Your sworn enemy publicly admitting that in 73 years India had never had a government as strong and iron-willed as this!"

The video is being widely circulated on Facebook with a similar claim. 

In the viral clip one can hear Khan saying, "If Pakistan needs a stronger army, then it needs it today. And why is it needed? Because our neighboring country...in 73 years India didn’t have a government like it has today."

The truth behind the claim

In our investigation, we found this claim to be misleading. The viral video is being shared out of context. In the original video, Khan was criticizing the Indian Government, not admitting that the present Indian government is “strong and iron-willed”

 The viral video has a logo saying ‘92’. On performing relevant keyword searches, we came across a bulletin uploaded by ‘92 News HD’ on 26 December 2020. At 0:56 minutes in the video, one can hear Imran Khan talking about building a stronger army and referring to India.

We found another 32-minute bulletin that the channel uploaded on 26 December 2020. At 05:56 minutes, Imran Khan can be heard saying, “If Pakistan needs a stronger army, then it needs it today. And why is it needed? Because our neighboring country...in 73 years India didn’t have a government like it has today...the government that is totalitarian, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, anti-Pakistan..never has such a government been formed...and what they are doing to Kashmiris.”

We also found an article published by Dawn on 26 December 2020, mentioning that Pakistan’s Prime Minister was addressing an event in the nation’s Chakwal, where he made the remark on the present Indian government

In conclusion, a short video clip of Pakistan PM Imran Khan is being widely shared out of context claiming  Khan has admitted that India hasn’t seen a government as “strong and iron-willed” in the last 73 years.