A day after playback singer Sonu Nigam stated that an X user 'impersonated' him and shared a political post about BJP's losing Faizabad (Ayodhya) seat, the user has clarified that his real name is 'Sonu Nigam' and reiterated that it is not his fault if social media users mistook him for the singer.
For those unversed, several media portal had reported that the post has been shared by the singer after which he was criticised by a section of users on X. The controversial post slammed the people of Ayodhya and called them 'shameless' after BJP's loss in the constituency where Ram Mandir has been built.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, the singer clarified that he is not on X and he refrains from making 'sensational political remarks'. However, he also stated that people mistaking the X user for him is 'alarming' and had mentioned that he will find some way to take action against the user.
On Thursday (June 6), the user penned a long note on X to address the 'allegations' made against him by the singer in his latest interview.
He wrote, "It has come to my attention that Mr. Nigam has expressed concerns and is planning to take legal action against me accusing me of impersonating him. This is to clarify that my name is Sonu Nigam, as given by my parents as well as in the official records. I have no intention whatsoever of impersonating the renowned singer. I have my own identity, and any resemblance to his name is unintentional and purely coincidental."
"Moreover, a mere prima facie visit to my profile on X (formerly Twitter) would reveal that I do not claim nor misrepresent or impersonate Sonu Nigam - the singer. The profile clearly reads as 'Sonu Nigam | @SonuNigamSingh यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः। Criminal Lawyer - Bihar, Bharat.' The same should suffice to clearly infer that the said handle does not belong to Sonu Nigam- the singer who by no stretch of imagination is remotely a 'Criminal Lawyer' hailing from 'Bihar'."
The user added, "Lack of due diligence by certain media outlets should not be treated as impersonation more so when I have clearly mentioned the above details on my profile which is accessible to the world at large, and hence the same cannot imperil me or inject me from using my name."
In the post, the lawyer also mentioned that the accusations against him are 'unfair' and have caused him 'distress'. He stated that he never 'threatened' the singer or his team. "I urge Mr Nigam and his team to reconsider their stance and understand that this is a matter of name-coincidence and lack of due-diligence on the part of the media outlet making such mischievous claims rather than impersonation. Once again, as always in the past, I am more than willing to cooperate to resolve this confusion amicably," he concluded his post.
On Wednesday, the singer slammed media portals for mistaking the user for him. "I wonder how people, including the news channels that mistook him for me, didn’t do their basic sanity check by reading the description of the account. His handle says Sonu Nigam Singh and the description says that he’s a criminal lawyer from Bihar," he said in a interview.
The singer added, "This user has been doing this for a while. I’m often inundated with screenshots of his tweets from my well-wishers. My team reached out to him and insisted he fixed his handle name and stopped pretending to be me, as millions of people are being mislead by the use of my surname. I’m sure we will find a way to fix this."
It may be mentioned that the X account has been followed by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP chief JP Nadda, former Union Minister Birender Singh and other politicians. The user is quite active on the platform and has over 59,000 followers.
