Congress tells Bachchan to clarify whether he endorses Narendra Modi’s
‘role’ in Gujarat riots.
The political shadow-boxing involving the Bachchans over the last few days flared into a full-fledged war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Monday with the latter asking actor Amitabh Bachchan to clarify whether he endorsed Modi’s ‘role’ in the 2002 Gujarat riots and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi labelling his opponents Taliban.
“I ask Amitabh Bachchan a direct question… As brand ambassador (of Gujarat), does he condemn or endorse the role of Modi in the 2002 pogrom?’’ said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari at a press briefing. “If he is a right thinking, sensitive man, which I believe he is, he should come out and strongly tell the country where he stands.”
The Congress spokesperson also hit out at the actor for building a “Chinese wall between Modi and the sands of Kutch” to justify his acceptance of the brand ambassadorship of Gujarat. The actor had claimed that by accepting the brand ambassadorship for the state, he wasn’t endorsing Modi or his politics, but just the state’s tourism.
Earlier, Modi had slammed those taking umbrage at the actor’s presence at the inauguration of the north carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link. “These Taliban of untouchability have lost all their sensibilities in their pursuit of anti-Gujarat attitudes,” Modi blogged.
“They may tell us not to eat even salt. They may even ban the eating of Amul butter and milk and order our young people not to wear denim jeans! And guess why? Because Gujarat produces these things,” Modi added.
The troubled equation between the Bachchans and the Congress surfaced after some Congressmen sought to corner Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan for sharing the dais with the actor at the sea link function. It shaped into a political controversy after posters of Abhishek Bachchan, the actor’s son, were removed from the Earth Hour event in Delhi, where chief minister Sheila Dikshit was a guest.
Amitabh Bachchan had reacted sharply to it in his blog and the BJP had jumped to his defence.
The Congress reiterated that it wasn’t opposed to Amitabh the actor but emphasised that the party’s Gujarat and Maharashtra units had raised “important questions” after Bachchan was appointed brand ambassador of Gujarat by Modi.
— With PTI inputs
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