Hindi News

Abhijeet Goes On A Twitter Rant Against Salman Khan For Supporting Pakistani Artists

By Niveda Manohar

Bollywood playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya has slammed Salman Khan for questioning the campaign against Pakistani artists working in India. He also accused the actor of being ‘ashamed to show loyalty to India’ and ‘supporting terrorism’.

Bhattacharya’s comments have surfaced a day after Salman Khan expressed his views about the ‘ultimatum’ issued by the political party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the ban on Pakistani artists by Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA).

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On Friday, Khan said, “They are artists. What do you think… Are artists terrorists? They come to India with visa. Who gives them the visa? Our government gives them visa[s]. The government gives them work permit[s].”

Bhattacharya even took a dig at Salman Khan’s infamous 2002 hit-and-run case:

Abhijeet’s hate rants did not end there.

When director/producer Mahesh Bhatt tweeted on the importance of peace, Abhijeet went on to call him a terrorist’s ‘local guide’ :

And when Karan Johar said that the first guest on the new season of his talk show Koffee with Karan would not be Fawad Khan as it was planned earlier, this is what Abhijeet had to say:

This is not the first time that singer Abhijeet has made headlines for his display of ‘nationalism’ by making anti-Pakistan comments on Twitter. While he got into trouble for abusing a woman journalist a couple of months ago, he had called senior ghazal singer Ghulam Ali a “dengue artist” from “terrorist country,” last year.

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Read: Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya Was Arrested For His Abusive Tweets Directed At Journalist, Confirm Mumbai Police 

After the 18 September terror attack that killed 19 Indian soldiers in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, MNS had issued a 48-hour ultimatum on 23 September to all Pakistani cine and television artists to leave India. The IMPPA took a decision to ban Pakistani artists in India in the wake of escalated tensions between the neighbouring countries. The IMPPA had also expressed its displeasure about the fact that none of the Pakistani artists condemned the attacks.

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Salman Khan’s comments have ignited a bigger controversy, with MNS President Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut condemning it. Raut said that veteran scriptwriter Salim Khan should keep his son Salman under house arrest, adding that the actor “blabbers” because no one in his family has died for the country.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray said, “These artists  should realise [the meaning of the term] ‘nation first’. If they have so many problems, we will ban their movies too”.

 

While Bhattacharya’s comments were consistent with his record for vitriol, the usual response of ‘send them to Pakistan’ was not far in coming.  VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi on Sunday said that if Bollywood superstars such as Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan sympathise with Pakistani actors, they should also go to Pakistan.

Niveda Manohar is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached by email at niveda@silverscreen.in