| << Newer | Older >> |
on 2008/3/7 22:23:11
Bollywood star Salman Khan says that his joining a signature campaign to oppose the gag order on Raj Thackeray did not mean that he or his family supported the breakaway Shiv Sena chief's campaign against north Indian migrants in Maharashtra.
In a letter that he issued to the media, Salman said: "It disturbs me to see people from various walks of life reacting to this unverified quote so strongly without confirming the credibility of the quote. We ourselves being originally migrants are not in any position to support such claims.
"My father is a migrant who lived in Madhya Pradesh and my mother comes from Jammu and that qualifies us as migrants. I think this matter has unnecessarily been blown out of proportion with regards to my family and would request my friends from the media not to misrepresent our position on this matter. Let's live in harmony, after all we are Indians first.
"This is to reaffirm before the media and the public that my family and I have been unnecessarily dragged into the entire migrants issue with regard to north Indians."
Following his provocative statements against north Indian migrants and the resulting violence in Mumbai and elsewhere, the state police had issued a notice banning Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MS) chief Raj Thackeray from holding any public meeting or conference.
The Marathi film fraternity condemned this order and started a signature campaign against it. Salman Khan, along with his brother Sohail and father Salim joined it. However, a certain section of the media misinterpreted the support and said that he was supporting Raj Thackeray's campaign against migrants.
"The media story stating our support with regard to this issue is misrepresented and I can confirm that we have not made any statement or endorsed any campaign that supports this issue.
"We are a secular nationalistic family with members from different faiths, different communities. All of us need to rise above divisive approaches and celebrate our unity at every given opportunity," Salman said.
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
| Poster | Thread |
|---|
