advertisement
A week after his jibe at actor Amir Khan drew flak, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday asserted that people are still sympathetic towards anti-nationals in the country. While addressing a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party Scheduled Caste morcha, he also did not shy away from sharing that he was praised by many for his comments on the actor.
He added that there are efforts being made to “defame the BJP” by creating misunderstanding about the party.
Parrikar stirred a controversy during a book launch last week when he dubbed Khan as “arrogant” when raking up his past comments about not feeling safe in India.
In November last year, the PK actor had joined the chorus against a growing atmosphere of “intolerance” in the country, saying he was “alarmed” by the number of incidents of intolerance, with his wife Kiran Rao even suggesting that they leave the country.
During the release of journalist-author Nitin Gokhale’s book on Siachen, Parikkar referred to Amir Khan’s statement without naming him and said:
Parrikar went on, gloating over the fact that Snapdeal did not renew their contract with Aamir Khan after his comments:
Many wondered whether the Defence Minister’s comments were actually an admission that Snapdeal was threatened by the BJP to terminate its contract with Aamir Khan:
According to Parrikar, when the actor made the statement last year, many people had protested against his remark and even uninstalled the mobile application of an online shopping site he was associated with, while the firm had also pulled out the advertisement featuring him.
Sources: IANS, The Indian Express and PTI
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)