Hyderabad: After Mahira Khan, Pakistani actress Sajal Aly has become the latest celebrity dragged into India’s political debate through a fake Instagram story. The screenshot falsely portrays her as celebrating a possible change of government in India, giving those targeting the ongoing protests another supposed Pakistani endorsement to circulate.
The fabricated story suggests that a change in leadership would improve relations between India and Pakistan and allow artistes to work together again. However, a fact-check identified the screenshots attributed to both Sajal and Mahira as false. Neither actress’s official account carried the alleged story when checked.
The accompanying message goes much further than the supposed celebrity reaction. It alleges that Pakistan, the Cockroach Janta Party, leftists and America want to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while presenting claims of foreign funding and a paid agenda without supporting evidence.
The screenshot has also drawn pushback. Some users have accused the BJP IT cell of employing cheap tactics, arguing that people are cross-checking viral claims instead of accepting screenshots at face value. These accusations, however, do not establish who produced the image.
The fact-check documented BJP supporters circulating the fabricated posts on X. Sharing the screenshots and creating them remain separate questions.
The political shift in focus is striking: questions about electoral rolls and alleged voter deletions are being recast through supposed Pakistani celebrity involvement. A fabricated endorsement offers no answer to those questions, but it can steer the conversation away from them.
With another actress’s name attached to a statement she did not make, the controversy raises a more immediate question: why are fake celebrity posts becoming part of the argument against the protesters?
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