No, Sanjay Raut did not say Uddhav Thackeray is the 'king of Muslim hearts'

What's the claim? 

A statement attributed to Sanjay Raut, Maharashtra Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party leader and Rajya Sabha member of Parliament, is being shared on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. The viral post features Raut's picture with the text, which translates to, “If people call Uddhav Thackeray the king of Muslims' hearts, what is wrong with that? The son of a king of Hindu hearts can also be a king of hearts of other religions.” Uddhav Thackeray, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, leads the Shiv Sena (UBT).

In addition, the post's design is similar to Lokmat's social media template, a Marathi-language news media widely viewed in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. 

An archive link to the post can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of posts containing graphic quoting Sanjay Raut calling Uddhav Thackeray 'Muslim hriday samrat,' or 'the king of Muslim hearts'. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

"Muslim hriday samrat," meaning "king of Muslim hearts," is a twist on the title "Hindu hriday samrat" or "king of Hindu hearts," a label frequently used for Bal Thackeray, the founder of Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray's father. The post is being shared ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections scheduled to take place on November 20. 

However, we did not find any evidence that Raut made such a statement, indicating the viral claim is fake. 

Additionally, Logically Facts recently reported on a false statement attributed to Thackeray, claiming he has demanded classical language status for Urdu.  

What we found

While the viral post did not provide evidence supporting the claim, a Google search also did not show us any reports quoting Raut making such a statement about Thackeray. 

Considering Lokmat's logo on the post, we checked the news media's X page but could not find any such post. Instead, we found a statement (archived here) posted on October 19, 2024, in which the news media clarified that it did not create this graphic or report on this, flagging the viral post as fake. 

The caption of Lokmat's post reads, "A misleading creative about Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party leader Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut has gone viral in the name of 'Lokmat'. However, no such creative has been done by 'Lokmat' but this is a hoax done by supporters of a particular ideology on social media using the name and logo of 'Lokmat'."

 

Screenshot of Lokmat clarification on the viral graphic saying that it is false. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

In addition, we found that Lokmat had recently published a similar graphic (archived here) accompanied by Raut's quote. The format resembled that of the viral image, but the font was different, indicating that the false image may have been created using this graphic. 

We also found other graphics published by Lokmat in the same format (archived here and here). 

 

The font differs in both graphics, indicating that the graphic used in the viral claim was morphed using this Lokmat format. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The verdict

There is no evidence supporting Sanjay Raut's statement in the viral post. Lokmat, whose template was used in the viral graphic, also clarified that it did not publish this post and called it a fake image.