Vijayvargiya retracts the controverial tweet on Shah Rukh Khan

“My intention was not to hurt anyone. I take back my yesterday’s tweet,” he said on micro-blogging site Twitter on Wednesday morning, even as his party distanced itself from his earlier remarks critical of the actor saying it was “not the view of the BJP”. In another tweet, the BJP general secretary said that had there been intolerance in India “after Amitabh, Shah Rukh would not have been the most popular actor. Some people have drawn different meaning from my tweet.” Vijayvargiya had yesterday triggered a controversy when he tweeted that Shah Rukh’s “soul” is in Pakistan though he lives in India. 

His remarks had come a day after the actor said there is “extreme intolerance” in the country. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said what Vijayvargiya has said is “not the view of the BJP”. “We have not seen what exactly he has said. What is reported is not the view of the party. We don’t normally comment on individuals also. We have no problems with Shah Rukh Khan. He is a great actor. Undoubtedly people admire him. But what exactly Vijayvargiya has said I have not gone through it,” Naidu said. 

Vijayvargiya had come under attack over his tweets against Shah Rukh Khan with Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O’Brien terming them “sickening”. “Sickening remarks against Shah Rukh Khan by BJP general secretary also Bengal in charge. What kind of attitude is this? Everyone else is bad and only you are good?” Derek had said in a statement. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also come out in support of the Bollywood superstar. “We r all proud of you.@ iamsrk Hope your words help to make a tolerant, inclusive and progressive India,” he tweeted.

Congress Alleging that “India’s democracy was under assault” from the BJP-led government, the Congress on Wednesday said the “government humiliates people those who do fall in line”. Congress leader Anand Sharma said it could understand the BJP’s or the government’s criticism of the Congress, but said they had no right to target those who have contributed immensely to the country just because they express contrary views. “People are worried. Two important personalities have expressed their unhappiness (over incidents of intolerance). Instead of listening to them, the government was humiliating them,” Sharma said. “Whoever is with the government is right and is a citizen of the country. But those who don’t fall in line are targeted,” he said, referring to a Bharatiya Janata Party leader’s comment that Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. 

The Congress asked the government to apologize to the people for the remark. Earlier, Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson of Indian pharma major Biocon Ltd, had expressed concern over fringe elements not being reined in by the government. Sharma said a large number Hindus do not believe in the policies of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent, and that the RSS must stop claiming that it represents the community. 

With inputs from PTI/ IANS