Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray blasted Bollywood star Salman Khan for opposing a ban on Pakistani artistes and said that soldiers guarding India’s borders faced real bullets unlike film actors.
“We should understand that our soldiers who guard our borders don’t have any personal enmity with Pakistani soldiers. But our soldiers are getting hit by bullets which are not ‘filmy’ bullets. They are real. If Salman Khan were to get hit in his film, he would get up immediately,” he told reporters. He added, “I have seen his [Salman Khan’s] tubelight flicker many a time.”
Khan had told the media in Delhi on Friday that he opposed the ban on Pakistani artistes. “They are artistes. Are artistes terrorists? They come with a visa. Who gives them the visa or work permit? Our government.”
Following the attack on Uri in Kashmir by terrorists which left 18 Indian soldiers dead, the MNS had given an ultimatum to Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood films to get out of the country. This was followed by the surgical attack by India across the Line of Control. The heightened tension between the two countries and the issue of Pakistani artistes working in India has thrown up a raging debate, especially because many voices, including Bollywood personalities, have said that banishing Pakistani artistes will not solve the India-Pakistan problem.
However, the MNS chief’s strident opposition to stars from across the border has got strong support, apart from this party coming into the limelight.
About talk of there being no border for artistes, Thackeray questioned this attitude and said, “These artistes don’t fall from the skies. I’m also an artist. After we gave an ultimatum following the Uri attack, all of them went away. But did anyone ask them to condemn that attack? No one did. Why should our artists speak up for them?
“What would happen if our soldiers put down their arms to come and hear a Ghulam Ali concert?”
He also wondered if there was a dearth of talent in India that artistes from across the border had to be hired. He also remarked that “very often I hear people tell me that the Pakistani people are good. How does that concern me? I am seeing only terrorists who come to kill our people”.
Latest news reports indicate that Pakistan has banned all Indian TV channels. Thackeray said, “Even the Dhoni biopic has been banned there.”
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande mocked the actor and said if Khan had “so much love for artistes from Pakistan, he should migrate to that country”.
Two days back, the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association passed a resolution to ban Pakistani actors from the industry in the wake of the Uri terror attack.
