On 17 August, Kangana Ranaut took to Twitter to share an interview purportedly by Aamir Khan which quotes the actor talking about Islam. In her tweet, Kangana claimed that “Aamir is an extremist and despite his wife being a Hindu, his children would only follow Islam”.
However, we found that the interview on which Kangana has based her tweet is completely fake and baseless and originates from an unreliable website.
THE CLAIM
Kangana, in her tweet targeting the actor said that by asserting that his children are only allowed to follow Islam despite his wife being a Hindu, Aamir Khan proves that he is an extremist. In a subsequent tweet, she also mocks Aamir saying that he was supposed to be the most “tolerant” individual and goes on to ask that since when has he become so “intolerant”.
“@aamir_khan आप तो सबसे ज़्यादा टॉलरंट थे आप कबसे हिंदूइज़म केलिये इंटॉलरंट हो गए? हिंदू माताओं की संतानें जिनकी रागों में श्री कृशन और श्री राम का खून बह रहा है,सनातन धर्म, भारतीय शभ्यता, यहाँ की संस्कृति जिनकी धरोहर है, वो सिर्फ़ और सिर्फ़ इस्लाम को फ़ॉलो करेंगे, ऐसा क्यूँ?,” she wrote.
[Translation: @Aamir_khan You were supposed to be the most tolerant individual, since when have you become so intolerant towards Hinduism? Hindu mothers give birth to children who have the blood of Shri Krishna, Shri Ram running through their veins. They carry forward the legacy of the Sanatan dharma and Indian civilisation. Why should they just follow Islam?]
Several users also shared the aforementioned article on Facebook.
WHAT WE FOUND
We searched on Google with relevant keywords and came across the same interview on a website called ‘Tanqeed.com’ which was published in 2012. The interview purportedly quoted Aamir Khan as saying “I had made it very clear that my kids will always follow only Islamic religion”.
We could also find an archived version of the interview on a website called ‘Santa Banta’ but couldn’t find any reliable source to corroborate the claim made in the interview.
We then came across an interview of Aamir Khan on India TV’s ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ aired in 2016 where he referred to the interview and had said that someone had made up the interview in his name when he had never said anything to that effect.
Further, had Aamir Khan said something about his religion or making his kids follow a certain religion, there would have been credible news reports about the interview.
Clearly, an old, fake interview of Aamir Khan is being shared to create a false narrative.
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