A video showing former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray talking about Aurangzeb and calling him his brother and a martyr is going viral on social media.
Who shared it?: Along with several social media users, the claim was also shared by Nitesh Rane, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, who called Thackeray a "traitor for supporting Aurangzeb," the Mughal emperor.
This comes after Thackeray lost the name and symbol for his party to Eknath Shinde.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
Who was Thackeray talking about?: Thackeray was referring to the Indian soldier Aurangzeb, who was killed in Jammu and Kashmir by militants in 2018.
How did we find out the truth?: We checked Uddhav Thackeray's official Facebook page for recent live streams and found one from 19 February 2023.
Thackeray was speaking at an event organised in Andheri, Mumbai with the north Indian community.
He starts talking about how he considers everyone who calls India their motherland his brother.
From 32:12 timestamp, he starts to talk about Aurangzeb.
He says, "This happened about three or four years ago, maybe you would have forgotten or maybe you wouldn't have even read about this. One of our soldiers was in Kashmir and he was going home to meet his family for a holiday when terrorists kidnapped him and killed him. After a few days, his body parts were found somewhere. Was he ours or not? He sacrificed his life for our country. If I say that he was my brother, you will ask me about his name as his name was Aurangzeb. He might be from the Muslim community but he sacrificed his life for our country so doesn't that make him our brother? He was indeed our brother."
A similar misleading claim about Thackeray calling "Aurangzeb a martyr" had gone viral in 2022. You can read our fact-check here.
What happened with Aurangzeb?: Rifleman Aurangzeb belonged to 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry and was posted at Shadimarg camp, Shopian.
He was kidnapped and later murdered by militants in Pulwama on 14 June 2018.
Conclusion: A part of Uddhav Thackeray's speech about an Indian soldier is being shared with a misleading claim that he called Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, a martyr and his brother.
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