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.
There is a certain sympathy for people who are anti national. Therefore, what I said in Pune I would not like to repeat it here. Those who want to see it can see it on YouTube. No one has told me that you have said the wrong thing, every one said you have said the right thing.
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.
I am only trying to point out… if anyone speaks like this, he has to be taught a lesson of his life.
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.
When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. [...] That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm.Aamir Khan
During the release of journalist-author Nitin Gokhale’s book on Siachen, Parikkar referred to Amir Khan’s statement without naming him and said:
One actor had said that his wife wants to live out of India. It was an arrogant statement. If I am poor and my house is small, I will still love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it.Manohar Parrikar
Parrikar went on, gloating over the fact that Snapdeal did not renew their contract with Aamir Khan after his comments:
When the actor did this, then the company which he was endorsing was… an online trading company. Some of our people are very smart, I know. There was a team which was working on this. They were telling people to order and return it… The company should learn a lesson, they had to pull his advertisement.Manohar Parrikar
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
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