Besides the actor, he also invited other Indian Muslims to Pakistan; he alleged Muslims in India are facing discrimination
Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan
New Delhi: Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD) chief Hafiz Saeed has invited Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to live in Pakistan alleging that Muslims in India are facing discrimination.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan was targeted by various BJP leaders following his comments about the growing intolerance in the country and a possible return of his Padma Shri. File pic
“Any such Muslim, even Shah Rukh who is facing difficulty and discrimination in India because of Islam is invited to stay in Pakistan,” Saeed posted on Twitter. Besides the actor, Saeed also invited other Indian Muslims to Pakistan.
“Even the renowned Indian Muslims in the field of sports, academia, arts and culture are fighting a constant battle for identity inside India,” he tweeted.
Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed
“We welcome Indian intellectuals raising voice against intolerance inflicted by Hindu extremists if and whenever they come to Pakistan,” he added.
The actor had tweeted earlier, ‘religious intolerance and not being secular, is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot.’
Saeed and SRK speak the same language
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath had compared Shah Rukh to Pakistani terrorist and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed after the actor’s “extreme intolerance” comment.
“Shah Rukh Khan must remember that if the majority of this nation rejects his films, then he will end up wandering the streets like any common Muslim. Anti-national people like Khan are raising their voices and we condemn it,” Adityanath said.
Reacting to Saeed’s invitation to Khan to come and live in Pakistan, he said he welcomed the invitation and hoped the actor will consider it. “I welcome the invitation. All such people should go to Pakistan, where they will be shown their true position in the scheme of things. Hafiz Saeed and Shah Rukh Khan speak the same language,” Adityanath added.
Unacceptable comment
Union minister Prakash Javadekar yesterday termed senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s comment on Khan as “unacceptable” and said only those authorised to speak should do so.
“It is unacceptable,” Javadekar said in an interview on a TV show when asked about Vijayvargiya’s remarks where he said Khan’s “soul” is in Pakistan though he lives in India and said he was an “anti-nationalist”.
Another BJP MP, Meenakshi Lekhi claimed Khan had aired such views following an Enforcement Directorate notice. “I want the world to know that he (Shah Rukh) received an ED notice on October 26 and India became intolerant on the 1st or 2nd of November,” Lekhi said Lekhi, the New Delhi MP, said that if it was not for ED, then why had Khan not spoken out when there were talks of “ousting Tasleem Nasrin from the country or when Salman Rushdie’s book was banned?”
The Congress also took a dig at BJP in the wake of the controversial remarks, terming Yogi Adityanath and Kailash Vijayvargiya the “new icons of tolerance” of the ruling party.
BJP later strongly disapproved of Hindutva leader Adityanath’s controversial comments, terming them “uncalled for” and stating that they did not reflect in any way the core belief of the party or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.