‘It is fake, never issued or signed any such statement’, says filmmaker whose name appears as signatory of anti-Modi statement

On March 29, over 100 personalities involved with the film industry in India had issued a joint statement against the Modi government. In a statement titled Save Democracy issued on a website named Artist United India, 103 small time and independent filmmakers had appealed people to vote the Narendra Modi government out in the Lok Sabha elections.

But now one of the filmmakers in the list has denied issuing any such statement. Actress and producer Aarti Patel, who appears at the number 2 in the alphabetical list, has said that the list is fake. Responding to a tweet by the official Twitter handle of the Congress party about the statement, Aarti said that she has not given any statement, neither she signed any appeal.

It’s fake.. I don’t know from where they have got the names, may be from a film directory. I haven’t given any statement nor signed any appeal.https://t.co/Acz6vM5vXH https://t.co/T5UpU1NXkQ

— Aarti (@aartivyaspatel) March 31, 2019

Calling the statement fake, Aarti said she does not know where they got the names, and speculated that the names may have been collected from a film directory.

It is very crucial to note that when we first reported on the statement, it had 103 names, and Aarti Patel was not among them. Now the total number of signatories has risen to 124, which means 21 new names has been added to the list later, including the name of Aarti Patel.

It may be noted that the website that issued the statement only had names of persons in plain text, it does not contain any images of actual signatures, which is usually present when such public statements are issued as a proof of authenticity. The website has only one page, and it was created on 26^th March, three days before issuing the statement.

It is interesting that while Aarti Patel’s name was included in an anti-Modi statement, she has been participating in the #VoteKar campaign launched by PM Modi, urging people to come out and vote during the Lok Sabha elections.

Aarti Patel is an award-winning Gujarati actress and film producer. She is known for the movies Bey Yaar (2014), Love Ni Bhavai (2017) and Mission Mummy (2016).