Sinha says that besides Bal Thackeray, he will not hesitate to call even Bukhari and Basu as father figures.
Under attack from rivals for calling Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray a "father figure" when North Indians were being attacked in Mumbai, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday said he had said so as a display of 'sanskar' (culture).
"Since Bal Thackeray is much elder to me, I called him a father figure out of sanskar (culture) when I had gone to meet him seeking his intervention to stop atrocities on North Indians in Mumbai who were targetted by MNS", Sinha, also the BJP candidate from Patna Saheb constituency, said before setting out for a campaign.
"Why only Bal Thackeray, I will have no no hesitation in calling Jama Masjid chief Syed Ahmed Bukhari or veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu as father figures", he said.
Strongly refuting the allegation that he had addressed the Shiv Sena patriarch as "God", Sinha asked "How can a living person be called God?"
Sinha, a former minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, claimed that his meeting with senior Thackeray had a positive effect as it helped in easing out of the harassment of the North Indians.
"During the meeting I chanted 'Jai Maharashtra' to which Bal Thackeray reciprocated with 'Jai Bihar', the actor said.
Criticising his rivals for raising such a "baseless" controversy during election time, Sinha in an apparent reference to his Congress rival and actor Shekhar Suman asked "What were these people doing at the time when all hell broke loose on the people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to MNS action"?
Sinha said "I have always been in touch with my birth place and made contributions through the MPLAD fund for the construction of roads, Mahavir Cancer hospital and strengthening the blood bank".
With both Sinha and Suman sharing tinsel town glamour and belonging to Patna and the same Kayastha caste, the fight between the two is keenly awaited when the constituency goes to polls on May seven.
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