Slew of charges, weak apologies later does little to stem damage to party.
By Dileep Thekkethil
After the controversial remark of BJP MP Adityanath comparing Shah Rukh Khan with India’s most wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed, his party disapproved the comment saying it is not the belief of BJP or its Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan had said during an interview that there is “extreme intolerance” in India.
Earlier, another BJP leader Kailash Vijayavargiya had tweeted saying that the Shah Rukh Khan’s “soul” is in Pakistan though he lives in India and also called him as an “anti-nationalist”.
BJP spokesperson told today that Shah Rukh Khan, who is a law abiding citizen, cannot by any means be called an anti-national nor can he be compared to a Pakistani terrorist.
“There cannot be any comparison of any law-abiding Indian citizen with a terrorist like Hafiz Saeed, certainly not Khan who is a much loved and respected Indian national and artist,” BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli said.
He also added, “His (Adityanath) comments are incorrect and uncalled for. They do not reflect in any way the core belief of BJP or that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Many undue comments made by members of the ruling BJP on issues of beef ban and Dadri lynching had put the party on the defensive. Putting an end to his silence the BJP chief Amit Shah warned party members against making unnecessary controversies and asked them to restrain from making comments of beef ban and Dadri lynching.
Earlier, Union minister Prakash Javadekar had condemned Vijarvargiya’s comments, making it clear that the party did not approve of them.
Following the condemnation, Vijarvargiya withdrew his controversial tweet and said, “My tweet was misconstrued by some. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I retract my yesterday’s tweets.”
He also added that “If India were intolerant, then Shah Rukh Khan wouldn’t have been the most loved actor after Amitabh Bachchan.”
Vijarvargiya’s controversial tweet read “Shah Rukh lives in India, but his soul is in Pakistan. His films make crores here, but he thinks India to be intolerant.”
BJP secretary Srikant Sharma today accused the congress of sponsoring the award-return campaign of the writers, artists and scientists to get over the leadership crisis.
He said, “There is peace in the country but disquiet among Congress leaders over the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. So its leadership has resorted to these tactics. It is its intolerance to Modi’s leadership as India is doing well on every front and it cannot accept this. So it is sponsoring these protests by so-called writers many of whom had made an appeal to defeat Modi in Lok Sabha elections.”
Also, controversial yoga guru Bab Ramdev pitched into the controversy, calling Shah Rukh Khan anti-national and daring the film star to return all his awards and money he has made through films, if he felt there was ‘religious intolerance in India.