Suniel, Mithun wash hands off anti-migrant campaign

Actors Suniel Shetty and Mithun Chakraborty clarified on Tuesday that they have had no role to play in the ongoing controversy regarding the anti-migrants campaign spearheaded by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Mumbai.

They clarified their stand in a meeting of Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), an organisation active in solving the problems of artistes. Actors Salman Khan and Nana Patekar were also expected to attend the meeting. But they gave it a miss as they were ‘busy’ in shooting.

Shetty and Chakraborty were present for the meeting in their capacity as members of Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTA). FWICE president Dharmesh Tiwari said,

“Both Suniel and Mithun have condemned the attacks on migrants. Sunil clarified that he never supported the anti-migrant campaign of the MNS. Also, he said that he had praised the efforts of MNS-led Cine Workers’ Association in the direction of solving the problems of film artistes.”

“We do not discriminate among the artistes. Our federation consists of 22 associations from all over India. We neither support any political party nor are we against any. We have deliberately kept the political parties away from the federation. If there are any problems, we solve it on the platform of the federation,” said Tiwari.

Salman Khan and Nana Patekar had signed against the gag order imposed on MNS president Raj Thackeray by Mumbai police. While condemning the gag order, both of them had asserted that freedom of speech was essential in democracy.