A video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is viral online with a false claim that it shows her preparing bhog for Goddess Kali without using fire.
BOOM found that the video was generated using artificial intelligence. We also found a video showing Banerjee cooking the food where a gas flame can be seen.
The viral 5-second footage shows Banerjee looking back at the camera while stirring a food preparation in a vessel on a gas stove without any fire.
The Claim
Several Bengali social media users shared the video mocking the chief minister. The accompanying text translates to: "Only she has the magical ability to cook without fire. Being a fire girl herself, cooking over fire is a luxury. Why do you keep looking at the camera?"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: The Video Is AI-Generated
1. Visible Discrepancies: We first examined the video closely and noticed several irregularities that are common in AI-generated visuals. For instance, at one point, one of the two women standing beside the TMC chief is holding a pot that changes shape. In another frame, one woman appears to be wearing a hairband, but when compared to the original video, no such hairband is visible.
2. The Original Picture: We ran a reverse image search using Google Lens and found the original photograph shared by the official X handle of the All India Trinamool Congress. In that image, there’s no visible flame on the stove beneath the utensil Banerjee is holding. However, we also found another post from the party’s official handle showing visuals from this year’s Kali Puja, where Banerjee is seen cooking with a flame visible on the gas stove.
3. AI Tool Detects Manipulation: We also tested the video using the AI detection tool Deepfake-o-Meter, developed by the University at Buffalo in the USA. The tool analysed the footage and flagged multiple signs of AI manipulation.