Salman supports Pakistani artistes in India; Raj Thackeray’s reaction

Bollywood star Salman Khan was at the launch of Being Human Jewel yesterday in Delhi. All was well until the media asked Salman Khan’s opinion on the ongoing war of Pakistani artists and the MNS. While a similar question was asked to John Abraham at ‘Force 2’ trailer launch two days back, the actor was smart enough to stay away by controversies by saying “Let’s talk about Force 2”.

However, Salman chose to invite backlash by voicing out his opinion saying:
those who killed our soldiers in Uri were terrorists. Pakistani artistes are not terrorists”.

Salman Khan further justified his comments saying that all Pakistani artistes work in India only after getting government permits, so there should be no reason to not allow them to work here. “They work only after getting proper documents”.

Several other Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Sajid Khan had come out in full praise on the Indian Army’s specialised operation yesterday. Therefore Salman Khan became an easy target for social media backlash soon after his comments.

MNS leader Raj Thackeray, who is Salman’s close friend, didn’t really appreciate Salman’s opinions. He retorted soon with the following:

“What we need to understand is that the soldiers who die defending our borders, it’s not that they have some personal enmity with Pakistan. And the bullets that hit them aren’t ‘filmi’ bullets. They’re real, unlike the ones Salman faces in his movies.”
He added that the question of art and artistes not being constrained by borders did not arise.
“Artistes don’t drop from the sky,” Thackeray said. “Even I’m an artiste.”

“The ones who were asked to leave in 48 hours, they were first asked if they would condemn [the Uri attacks]. It was only when they refused that they were asked to leave.”
“What if the soldiers at the borders tomorrow decide to lay down their arms and say they want to attend a Ghulam Ali concert. Are the soldiers our servants?” Thackeray asked.
“I am told many times, that Pakistanis are nice people. What difference does that make? The only ones who come before us are the terrorists.”

Thackeray also asked why Bollywood needs Pakistani artists. “Are we short of artists in our country? Why do we need Pakistani artists to work in our films? I don’t understand,” said Thackeray.

Thackeray also questioned that if our jawans will put down their weapons, who will guard the borders. “Jawans are fighting for us at borders. What’ll happen if thy decide to put down their weapons? Who’ll guard borders? Salman Khan?” said Thackeray.

Salman soon became the hot debate of social media and going by the tweets, most of the people are not really happy with him.