Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Yogi Adityanath today launched a frontal assault on Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, drawing a comparison between him and terrorist Hafiz Saeed.
He asked the actor to not make anti-national comments, and said that his comments were like Saeed. He added that if the Hindus of the country stopped watching Khan’s films, he would wander on the streets. Adityanath said, “Under the garb of secularism, some writers and artists of leftist mindset have joined anti-national elements. They (writers and artists) are speaking the language of terror.”
“These voices are not anti-BJP but anti-national. Unfortunately, Shah Rukh Khan has also joined the bogey,” Adityanath said.
This is the second time in less than 24 hours that a BJP leader of consequence has made a statement against the actor, who came into the limelight recently for saying that that there was an atmosphere of intolerance in the country.
Earlier yesterday, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya called Khan an ‘anti-nationalisr’ and said that his ‘soul’ lives in Pakistan.
“Shah Rukh lives in India, but his soul is in Pakistan. His films make crores here but he thinks India to be intolerant,” he said on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
After a clarification from his party that the comments were personal and not the party line, Vijayvargiya today retracted his controversial statement. He said that he did not intend to ‘hurt anyone’s sentiments’, and that his tweet was ‘taken out of context’.