Did Yogi Adityanath Ask People to Boycott Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan'? No

The viral video was from 2015 and was shared without proper context.

A video of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath speaking out against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has gone viral with a claim that Adityanath has asked people to boycott Khan's upcoming movie, Pathaan.

In the viral video, the UP CM has be seen calling for a boycott of his movies and comparing him with Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

However, we found that Adityanath's statement was taken from a 2015 address of his and has been shared without proper context.

CLAIM

In the viral video, Adityanath can be heard saying, "Some so-called authors and artists with a left-leaning ideology have started raising anti-national voices now. Unfortunately, people like Shah Rukh Khan have also joined these people. And this is not for the first time, he (Shah Rukh Khan) has acted like this in the past as well. Shah Rukh Khan should remember that if the majority community boycotts his films, he will have to wander the streets like an ordinary Muslim."

When asked what he thought about Saeed's statements, Adityanath said, "There is no difference in the languages used by Shah Rukh Khan and Hafiz Saeed".

The post was shared by several people on Facebook and Twitter, archives of some of which can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a keyword search for "Yogi Adityanath, Shah Rukh Khan and Hafiz Saeed" and found a news report published on The Quint on 4 November 2015, titled, "Shah Rukh and Hafiz Saeed Have Similar Views, Says Yogi Adityanath."

The report also carried a video, which was the same one that is going viral.

The alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Saeed, had said that Khan is welcome to move to Pakistan if he feels unsafe in India. This came after the actor said in a statement that intolerance was growing in India.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Adityanath, and right wing groups came out against Khan's statements.

Evidently, an old statement of Adityanath speaking out against Shah Rukh Khan was shared with a false claim that the UP CM called for a boycott of SRK's upcoming movie, Pathaan.

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