Now ‘they’ will start liking India: Uma Bharti on Shah Rukh Khan issue

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to reach out to all communites and requests are pouring in from people urging him to talk about the attacks on Muslims and dalits in his Independence Day speech, water resources minister and Hindutva hardliner Uma Bharti yet again embarassed the government with her jibe on Shah Rukh Khan’s detention in the US.

When asked to react on the movie star being detained at an airport in the US, Ms Bharti said: “Ek baat achchi hain ki inko bharat desh achcha lagne lagega (The good thing is that they will now start liking India).” The water resources minister’s jibe came as she was speaking in Ujjain.

Mr Khan was detained for a short period at Los Angeles Airport on Thursday evening.

This is the third time that the actor has been detained at a US airport. In 2012, immigration officials detained Mr Khan at the New York airport for over two hours. He was also detained by US immigration officials at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in 2009 because his name came up on a computer alert list.

However, this is not the fist time that a central Cabinet minister has embarassed the government. Recently, defence minister Manohar Parrikkar had caused a controversy by targeting another actor Aamir Khan. Mr Parrikkar said that anyone speaking against the country must be “taught a lesson” in the same way that an “actor” and an “online trading company” that he promoted were.

Though Mr Parrikar took no names, it is understood that his comments came in response to Aamir Khan’s statement about a “sense of insecurity” resulting from increasing intolerance in the country.