The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its chief Raj Thackeray has now targeted Amitabh Bachchan for being pro-Pakistan.
The controversy regarding high profile people being targeted for being soft towards Pakistan doesn’t seem to die. After Shiv Sena targeted Shahrukh Khan for supporting the inclusion of players from Pakistan in the upcoming IPL cricket tournament, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its chief Raj Thackeray has now targeted Amitabh Bachchan for being pro-Pakistan as the cine star became a part of an initiative by a media group to strengthen the people to people contact between the people of India and Pakistan.
Raj Thakre also criticized Mr. Bachchan for taking part in a poetry-reading session with Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin. Mr Bachchan was a part of an event where he read poems of his father, the late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, while Mohyeddin read shairi by the late Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
There has been a widespread opposition to the move by Mr. Bachchan. Many Shiv Sainiks also joined Maharashtra Navnirman Sena when they felt that anyone who proposes a friendly relation with Pakistan needs to be opposed and even if that person is Mr. Bachchan, the biggest star of Bollywood, he should not be spared. Shiv Sena activists said that when the Sena chief Bal Thakrey has criticized people like Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tedulkar, Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan for their anti-national and anti-Maharashtrian comments, why should he spare Amitabh Bachchan?
Mr. Bachchan has so far tried to stay away from the present controversy surrounding Shahrukh and Shiv Sena by not commenting on it. But after being targeted by The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its chief Raj Thakre, he has inevitably become a part of this controversy and is being charged with being soft to Pakistan.
