“मुसलमान चाहे पाकिस्तानी हो या भारतीय, अनपढ़ हो या सुशिक्षित, गरीब हो या अमीर 99% मुसलमान सोच से कट्टर आतंकवादी ही होते हैं, चाहे वह भाईचारे का कितना ही दिखावा करे।” (Be they Pakistani or Indian, illiterate or educated, poor or rich, 99% Muslims are terrorists by thought, even if they make a show of brotherhood- translation).
The above quotation has been attributed to celebrated author Salman Rushdie. Circulated along with a picture of Rushdie, the quote has been shared on social media and messaging platforms. Some WhatsApp users contacted Alt News seeking verification of the quote in question.
The quote has been shared widely on both Facebook and Twitter.
“99 % मुसलमान सोच से कट्टर आतंकवादी ही होते हैं चाहे वह भाईचारे का कितना ही दिखावा करें” – सलमान रुश्दी ।*
— tikam nariani (@tikam53) May 16, 2019
Fake quotation
The quotation attributed to Salman Rushdie is fake. The same statement had been circulated earlier as well. Alt News checked the Twitter profile of Salman Rushdie and found that this quote had been debunked by Rushdie himself, way back in 2015, wherein he had quote-tweeted a user, Lucy Wolf, saying, “Thank you for finding the source of this fake quote that people can’t seem to stop quoting to justify their own bigotry.”
.@LucyGoesHard Thank you for finding the source of this fake quote that people can’t seem to stop quoting to justify their own bigotry.
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) March 7, 2015
Despite being debunked by Salman Rushdie himself in 2015, the fake quotation continues to be shared in his name.
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