Wikipedia Claim That Vir Das Is A Muslim? No, Viral Screenshot Is Of Edited Webpage!

Image Credit: Twitter

The Logical Indian Crew

Wikipedia Claim That Vir Das Is A Muslim? No, Viral Screenshot Is Of Edited Webpage!

A Twitter user tweeted," His name is not Vir Das. His full name is Vir Abdullah Das. He is doing his religious work Jihad. Only the way has changed...

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About a week ago, actor-comedian Vir Das performed at John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. At the end of his show, he narrated a poem, 'Two Indias', which sparked a massive uproar on social media. His narration drew heavy criticism amongst netizens who asserted that Vir Das defamed Indian on an international stage.

In the same backdrop, a screenshot purportedly of the Wikipedia page of Vir Das is viral to claim that he is a Muslim named 'Vir Abdullah Das'.

A Twitter user @AgentVinod03 posted the screenshot and captioned, "Arre ye toh 'Abdul' nikala". While writing this article, the post has garnered over 1400 retweets and over 3700 likes.

Another Twitter user @RitaSinghal6 posted the screenshot and captioned it in Hindi, "उसका नाम सिर्फ वीर दास नहीं उसका पूरा नाम वीर अब्दुल्लाह दास है.... वह अपना मजहबी कार्य जेहाद कर रहा है.... बस तरीका बदल गया है...."

[English translation: His name is not only Vir Das, but his full name is Vir Abdullah Das. He is doing his religious work Jihad. Only the way has changed...]

The screenshot is viral over Twitter and Facebook with the same claim and varied captions in Hindi and English.

Image Credit: Facebook

Claim:

Actor-comedian Vir Das is a Muslim named 'Vir Abdullah Das' according to his Wikipedia page.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral screenshot claiming to be the Wikipedia page of Vir Das was defaced to add incorrect information about him.

We searched for the Wikipedia page of actor-comedian Vir Das and found that currently, the name shows only 'Vir Das', no middle name 'Abdullah' is mentioned on the web page.

Wikipedia is a free, multilingual, and online encyclopedia written and maintained by volunteers through a model of open collaboration, using a wiki-based editing system. So, we viewed the history and found the page repeatedly edited on 17 November. We tried to access all edits made on 17, but the revisions have been removed from the public archives.

Following revisions were made on Vir Das's Wikipedia page:

• Name changed to 'Vir Abdullah Das'

• Nationality changed to 'Nigerian.'

• False claims against him and his family

Image Credit: Wikipedia

We found an interview article of Vir Das published in the Wall Street Journal on 26 February 2019. He said, "My father, Ranu, worked for a big Indian food-processing company. My mother, Madhur, was a teacher in Lagos". It slightly clarifies that he does not belong to a Muslim family.

Image Credit: Wall Street Journal

We could not find many articles on the religion of Vir Das; still, it is clear that the Wikipedia page of the actor-comedian was repeatedly edited on 17 November. Therefore, the viral screenshot claiming to be of the Wikipedia page of Vir Das actually taken after defacing his Wikipedia page to add incorrect information about him.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: This Viral Video Showing Welcome Of C-60 Commandos Is Old & Not Related To Recent Gadchiroli Encounter

Contributors Suggest Correction
Writer : Jakir Hassan
,
Editor : Bharat Nayak
,
Creatives : Jakir Hassan

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