JOIN USKnown for his rancid remarks, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya waded into a fresh controversy on Tuesday when he questioned actor Shah Rukh Khan’s popularity, saying people will flock to see even underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
“There is a new tradition of promoting films. The promoters should at least take care of public convenience. If they promote films in railways, the common people will suffer. Even if Dawood appears in public, crowd will come out. So we cannot gauge the popularity (of people), at least on the basis of crowd,” he said.
Vijayvargiya was referring to the Vadodara incident where one person was killed in the melee during the promotion of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees.
Vijayvargiya also slammed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, while heaping praise on Prime Minster Narendra Modi.
The BJP leader called Rahul Raees and Modi Kaabil, both titles of Bollywood movies slated for release around Republic Day. Actor Hrithik Roshan plays the lead role in Kaabil.
Claiming that he was targeting those who are against demonetisation, Vijayvargiya tweeted: “Those Raees (rich) who are not loyal to the country are of no use. We should all support a Kaabil (able) patriot.”
Raees also features Pakistani actor Mahira Khan. In the run-up to the release of the film, Khan had met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray in an attempt to prevent the revival of huge protests last year against Pakistani actors being allowed to work in India.
The BJP said Vijayvargiya has expressed his own views and there is “no controversy attached to the party”. BJP spokesperson Shaina N C said the tweet attacked dishonest people and promoted the “able” and pointed out that it does not mention Khan or Roshan.