IANS
LUCKNOW, NOVEMBER 4
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday compared Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan with Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed after the actor said there was growing intolerance in India.
The hardline BJP leader said in Gorakhpur that both Shah Rukh Khan and Saeed -- the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack -- speak the same language.
“There is no difference in the language Shah Rukh Khan and Saeed speak,” said Adityanath, who heads the Gorakhpur mutt in eastern Uttar Pradesh and is known for his radical views on issues related to Hinduism.
Adityanath said if Hindus stopped seeing Shah Rukh Khan’s movies, “he will be on the streets like an ordinary Muslim”.
The MP’s comment came a day after a BJP leader, Kailash Vijayvargiya, called Shah Rukh -- as the actor is widely known and who turned 50 on Monday -- a “deshdrohi” (traitor).
Vijayvargiya said on Wednesday that his comment had been “misconstrued”.
Another Hindutva proponent, Sadhvi Prachi, dubbed the actor a “Pakistani agent”.
Shah Rukh Khan had said earlier that there “is intolerance (in India), there is extreme intolerance ... there is growing intolerance”.
Adityanath said “so-called writers and artistes” had taken an anti-India stand by returning their national awards over alleged growing intolerance, and that Shah Rukh Khan had now added his voice to this group.
He said while he was all for a free debate on issues, no one had a right to hurt India’s international image.
Those who did deserved to be boycotted, the saffron-robed MP said.
When he was told that Hafiz Saeed had invited Indians to come to Pakistan if they found intolerance in India difficult to cope with, Adityanath said: “They can go (to Pakistan). We also want them to go.”
Adityanath has been representing Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha for the BJP since 1998. Also head of the Hindu Yuva Vahini group, he has sparked many controversies with his hardline comments.
In June this year, he declared that those who oppose yoga can leave India.
Adityanath’s comments drew criticism from both the Shiv Sena and veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher.
Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said: “Shah Rukh must not be targeted for being a Muslim. He has the same rights as we do.”
Kher, a known BJP supporter, tweeted: “Some members of the BJP really need to control their tongue and stop talking rubbish about Shah Rukh. He is a national icon and we are proud of him.”
But BJP MP and popular Bhojpuri singer-actor Manoj Tiwari said Shah Rukh Khan had always been close to the Congress and had made his statement amid the ongoing Bihar assembly elections.
SRK shouldn’t be targeted because he is Muslim: Shiv Sena
Even as he came under attack from sections in BJP, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan on Wednesday received support from ruling ally Shiv Sena which said the superstar should not be targeted only because he is a Muslim and that the minority community in India is “tolerant”.
“This country is tolerant and the Muslims are tolerant as well. Shah Rukh Khan should not be targeted only because he is a Muslim,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told PTI.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya had on Tuesday triggered a controversy when he tweeted that Shah Rukh’s “soul” is in Pakistan though he lives in India.
His remarks came a day after the 50-year-old actor said there is “extreme intolerance” in the country.
Earlier on Wednesday controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath compared Shah Rukh to Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of Mumbai carnage, over his “extreme intolerance” comment and also suggested that he go to Pakistan.
Slamming Vijayvargiya, Raut asked the BJP general secretary not to bring Pakistan into this debate on tolerance, saying that it is India’s internal matter.
He said Shah Rukh is a superstar only because India is tolerant.
“Shah Rukh Khan is a superstar only because the country is tolerant and has never thought in the name of religion,” the Sena leader said. However, Raut said Shah Rukh spoke quite late on the issue.
“First of all Shah Rukh Khan should not have gotten into this debate on tolerance and secondly, out of the people who have returned their awards, the number of Muslims is almost negligible. Also, Shah Rukh spoke on the issue very late,” he said.
Meanwhile, under fire for his remark against Shah Rukh, Vijayvargiya on Wednesday withdrew his controversial tweets but asserted that had there been intolerance in India, Shah Rukh would not have been the most popular actor after Amitabh Bachchan.
Anupam Kher has come out in support of his “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” co-star Shah Rukh Khan after Yogi Adityanath compared the Bollywood superstar with Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed for his comments over intolerance in India.
Kher, 60, took to Twitter to blast the controversial statements made by some of the BJP leaders against Shah Rukh.
“Some members of the BJP really need to control their tongue & stop talking rubbish about @iamsrk. He is a national icon & We r PROUD of him,” he tweeted.
Hitting out at Shah Rukh two days after the actor added his voice to the protest by the intelligentsia against the ‘climate of intolerance’, Adityanath also suggested that the actor should go to Pakistan.
In another controversial remark, the Gorakhpur MP said Shah Rukh should remember that if a “huge mass” of people in the country would boycott his films then he would also have to wander on streets like a “normal Muslim”.
The controversy started with senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s series of tweets yesterday where he painted Shah Rukh as an “anti-nationalist” and said that the actor’s “soul” is in Pakistan though he lives in India.
Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachi yesterday termed the 50-year-old actor a “Pakistani agent”.
