Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey landed in hot water on social media after he reacted to a post shared by a parody account impersonating popular Pakistani actress and influencer Hania Aamir on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The post in question, which has now gone viral, appeared to show Hania condemning Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir while appealing to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift bans on Pakistani artists and their social media accounts in India. The post was widely circulated and interpreted as a bold political stance from the actress - until users pointed out the account was fake.
Without verifying the authenticity of the account, Dubey responded in Hindi, "Pakistani film actress Hania also agrees that the brutal killing of unarmed Hindus in Pahalgam, Kashmir, was orchestrated by Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir. The Sharif family, Bhutto family, and Imran Khan are all united in support of this."
He added, "However, in our country, some leaders of the Congress Party, the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, and the opposition are still demanding answers from the Prime Minister? Shameful. This account also operates from Hania's own ID. Don’t be impatient."
Soon after his post, social media users were quick to flag the account as a parody, mocking the MP for falling for misinformation. Several users posted screenshots showing that the handle was not verified and contained clear signs of being a fan-made or fake profile.
"Itna bhi nahi pata ki parody account aur real account mein difference hota hai. Koi bhi random account ko uthakar tweet krne lagte ho," a user wrote.
Another commented under his post, "Dubey ji dhyan se dekhiye account ko. Parody account hai ye. Aap bhi Whstapp vale uncles ki tarah behave karte hai. कुछ to मर्यादा rkhiye पद की. बिना कुछ देखे समझे kuchh v share karna hai bas."
"Dubey ji this is a fake ID. This actress has never given such a statement. So please make such responsible tweets only after checking the real ID first. Thank you," wrote another user.
On Friday (May 2), Hania broke her silence after the controversial social media post, falsely attributed to her, went viral amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. She issued a clarification on Instagram, calling the post 'entirely fabricated' and denying that she ever made such statements.
"Recently, a statement has been falsely attributed to me and is being widely circulated on social media. I want to address this directly: I did not make this statement, and I do not endorse or align with the words being linked to me. It is entirely fabricated and misrepresents who I am and what I believe," Hania wrote.
She went on to express sympathy for the lives lost in the recent Pahalgam terror attack and urged people not to politicise the pain of innocent victims. "This is a deeply sensitive and emotional time. My heart goes out to the innocent lives lost and the families affected by the recent tragedy. Pain like this is real, and it deserves empathy, not politicisation," she added.
Her post further read, "In times like these, it's easy to let emotions cloud our judgment, but we must remember: the actions of extremists do not represent an entire nation or its people. Assigning blame without proof only deepens divides and distracts from the real need for compassion, justice, and healing. To my beloved supporters, your love means everything to me. I kindly ask everyone to check the truth before sharing and to approach these difficult times with kindness and clarity."
Ban on Instagram accounts of Pak celebs in India
The controversy erupted a day after Indian users noticed that several Pakistani celebrity Instagram accounts, including those of Hania, Mahira Khan, Sajal Aly, and Iqra Aziz, were no longer accessible in India. A message on their profiles read, "Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content."
This digital crackdown follows the tragic terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on April 22, which resulted in the death of 26 people.
