Ashoke Pandit took to Twitter on Saturday to express his (very) vocal views on the spat between veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher on the social media platform.
He minced no words in expressing his obvious contempt for Shah’s comment on Kher’s stand on Kashmiri Pandits.
Not only did Pandit question the three-time National award winning actor’s mental faculties, he also called him a “fanatic muslim.”
At this stage of the story, its time to rewind and give you some context.
It all started with veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah’s harmless jibe regarding Anupam Kher’s vocal stance on the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits. He was in Delhi for a promotional event of his latest release, ‘Waiting’.
A person who has never lived in Kashmir has started a fight for Kashmiri Pandits. Suddenly, he became a displaced person.Naseeruddin Shah, hinting about Anupam Kher
What followed, as it does on Twitter, was a war of tweets. Kher took to twitter to respond to long-time friend Shah’s comment.
Observing that the war of words had escalated beyond what he’d expected, Shah then clarified saying that he has been misquoted completely.
And as luck would have it, Pandit could not resist stepping into the war with his own twitter warrior skills.
As Narendra Modi’s government celebrates two years in power, the 66-year-old actor also timed his concerns about “changes made in a few textbooks” very well.
Shah, however, said that citizens should give the Modi government more time before drawing conclusions about the way it functions.
People are taking decisions and making perceptions too fast. I think we should give the government more time. But, there are few things which make me concerned, like the kind of alterations in the text books, those are the things to worry about.Naseeruddin Shah
The ‘Waiting’ star also supported Javed Akhtar’s statements about people questioning one another’s love for India.
I am sad that statements like these (referring to AIMIM MP Asaddudin Owaisi) are made and then they are not even condemned. Like Javed sahab said, ‘It is his right to say ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. I will say it with my choice not because somebody asks me to,’ I support him. Nobody has a right to question my love for my country.Naseeruddin Shah
Well in retrospect, maybe the jibe wasn’t so harmless after all.
(With inputs from PTI)
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