Dubai: The latest Salman Khan starrer Jai Ho, in which he plays a common man, opens with the line: it’s ‘time to stop evil’ and ‘take a stand’ (sic).
He may pull it all off with panache as Major Jai Agnihotri in this Hindi remake of a South Indian film, but his Muslim fans feel he hasn’t taken the stand he really should in real life. As the red carpet was rolled out in Dubai’s Meydan Hotel for the world premiere of Jai Ho on Wednesday, calls grew back home demanding a boycott of his film by Muslims who are angry at the actor’s public praise of a controversial politician.
In response to a question by XPRESS at the premiere of the Sohail Khan-directed movie, Salman again defended right-wing Indian politician Narendra Modi who is running for the prime minister’s post. “He is the chief minister of a state. There is a judicial system (in place) that has cleared him (of any wrongdoing), then why should he apologise?” he said when asked whether he felt he had disappointed his Muslim fans by flying kites with Modi. He recently attended a festival in Gujarat state where around 2,000 Muslims died in communal violence under Modi’s watch in 2002.
Salman, son of a Muslim father and Hindu mother, has a massive fan following among millions of Muslims, a community angered by his public support for Modi. Muslims in India hold Modi responsible for the riots in his state in 2002. “Salman is not just an actor, he is a Muslim success story in a country where a large majority of Muslims are poor, backward and downtrodden. I was surprised by Salman’s brazen praise of the person most Muslims hate,” an Indian journalist based in Dubai said.
On Wednesday, calls grew in India to boycott his film after he praised Modi and said he didn’t need to apologise to Muslims, a long-pending demand of the community. In Hyderabad, Parliament member Asaduddin Owaisi urged Muslims not to buy tickets to Jai Ho as a mark of protest. In Aligarh a youth group issued a call to boycott the film also starring newcomers Daisy Shah and Sana Khan. Modi, whom Muslims accuse of provoking and shielding rioters, was cleared of involvement in the violence by a special investigation team.
In Dubai, Salman chose to water down his praise of Modi by saying he just had a nice time with the politician. “We flew four kites, I cut three but I am sad he managed to cut one of my kites as well,” he said.
Weeks earlier, he had ruffled feathers of Muslims when he performed at an event organised by another chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, in his hometown Saifai, not far from Muzzafarnagar where thousands of Muslim riot victims are living in appalling conditions. “I went there and performed and had great fun,” Khan said.
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