No, Shabana Azmi never said, “India is not a great country, because Muslims are not happy here”

Message: “भारत अच्छा और महान देश नहीं है क्यूंकि यहाँ मुसलमान खुश नहीं है – शबाना आज़मी शबाना आज़मी तुम और तुम्हारे समर्थक सीरिया और पाकिस्तान चले जाओ ताकि तुम जेसे को असली ख़ुशी मिल जाये सहमत है तो शेयर करके इन लोगो को जवाब दे – संतोष भारतीय”

Translation: India is not a good and great country, because the Muslims are not happy here – Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi, you and your supporters go to Syria and Pakistan so that you agree to get the real happiness as well, then by sharing, answer these people – Santosh Bhartiya

An image with the above statement attributed to actress Shabana Azmi has been shared by a Facebook page, Youth India(@fansofyouthbjp). It has been shared more than 11300 times and ‘liked’ more than 16000 times. It may be noted that the page has more than 25 lakh followers.

Many Facebook users have shared the same claim in the past as well.

Alt News searched for this quote and found that this viral claim credited to Shabana Azmi has been circulating at least since 2017.

“This is Pure Lies”

Shabana Azmi rubbished the quote ascribed to her, tweeting “THIS IS PURE LIES being circulated in my name . Santosh Bhartiya agar aapki sahi identity hai tto prove kariye ye maine kahah kaha hai. Jhoot ki buniyaad par apni dukaan chalaane wale sharm karo !!!”.

THIS IS PURE LIES being circulated in my name . Santosh Bhartiya agar aapki sahi identity hai tto prove kariye ye maine kahah kaha hai. Jhoot ki buniyaad par apni dukaan chalaane wale sharm karo !!! pic.twitter.com/g6KB3o4Tcb

— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) July 13, 2018

Bollywood celebrities are often falsely and maliciously quoted to further a political agenda on social media. Further, it has been observed that the nature of the quotes often depends on the perceived ideological and political views of the targeted public figure. In this instance, an outrageous and completely false quotation attributed to Shabana Azmi has been circulating in the social media ecosystem for more than a year now.