Never endorsed any political party in 35-year career: Aamir Khan on Congress video

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan stays away from politics after his comment many years ago about ‘wanting to leave India' due to growing intolerance drew a lot of flak. He never managed to live that down.

In fact, his 2015 video talking about how his then wife Kiran Rao was worried about the growing intolerance in the country and asked him if they should leave India, resurfaced during the release of his 2022 film ‘Lal Chadha’ and went viral on social media.

Plea against false promises

So, when a 31-second video recently surfaced with Aamir Khan warning people ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections not to believe in ‘jumlas’ (election gimmicj) made by the BJP, he quickly distanced himself from it.

In the video, Aamir Khan starts off saying in a chatty fashion, “Friends, if you think that India is a poor country, then you are absolutely wrong. Because every citizen in the country is a lakhpati. Everyone should at least have Rs 15 lakhs….”

In 2014, Modi, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, promised to bring back black money from abroad to India and deposit ₹ 15 lakh from it to every citizen's bank account. The promise had provided the Opposition parties a huge opportunity to target the government.

In the video, Aamir then adds, “What did you say? You don’t have this amount? So where are your Rs 15 lakhs? Be careful of Jumla promises.” And the Dangal actor goes on to endorse the Congress party.

Fake video

However, on April 16, Aamir issued a statement clarifying that he has not advertised for any political party.

The actor's office has said, "We want to clarify Aamir Khan has never endorsed any political party in his 35-year career". In his statement, the actor said that he has done campaigns for the Election Commission to raise public awareness for many past elections.

Further, the statement said that they were alarmed now to see a recent viral video alleging Mr Khan is promoting a particular party. "He would like to clarify this is a fake and totally untrue video,” said the statement.

FIR filed

Moreover, the actor has reported the matter to various authorities, including filing an FIR with the Cyber Crime Cell of Mumbai Police. 

Aamir, however, sent out a message for voters for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, which begins Friday, April 19. He urged all Indians to come out and vote and be an active part of our electoral process.

According to news agency IANS, the alleged video is an AI (Artificial Intelligence)-generated deep fake that uses a clip from an old TV show 'Satyamev Jayate' that Khan used to host 10 years ago.

The forthcoming general election will take place over seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The six constituencies that make up Mumbai, where Mr Khan resides, will vote in the fifth phase on May 20.

The Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra will see the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti clash with the Maha Vikas Aghad, or MVA. Apart from the BJP, the Mahayuti consists of the breakaway factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Nationalist Congress Party, led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

The MVA, meanwhile, consists of the Sena and NCP groups led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, and the Congress.