Never one to waste an opportunity to slam ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena on Friday has questioned the coalition partner’s “double standards” in offering protection to Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali even while some BJP leaders have asked Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to leave India and go to the neighbouring country.
The criticism, which appeared as an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, comes after some BJP leaders criticised the actor’s remarks about growing intolerance in the country.
“On the one hand you (BJP) are inviting Ghulam Ali and on the other you are asking Shah Rukh to go to Pakistan. These are double standards. Shah Rukh is an artist and he attracts controversy sometimes. We have also chided him occasionally. But targeting him for being Muslim is not correct. It is confusing when protection is offered to Ghulam Ali and (former Pakistan foreign minister Kurshid Mahmud) Kasuri,” the editorial said.
The editorial was referring to Mr Ali’s concert in Mumbai being called off after resistance from the Sena, and Sena workers smearing black ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of Observer Research Foundation, over his role in Mr Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai.
Warning that Jama’at-ud-Da’wah chief Hafiz Saeed, a wanted terrorist in India, is out to divide Muslims in India on communal lines, the Sena said the immediate need is to take stern action against Saeed. “This is not the time to target Shah Rukh for being a Muslim,” the editorial said.
Taking a dig at ally BJP, the Sena said those who were criticising protests against Mr Ali and Mr Kasuri had shown their “real faces” in the Shah Rukh Khan issue. But it added that the ghazal maestro himself had “taught a lesson” by cancelling all his shows planned in India. Mr Ali, whose concert in Mumbai was called off after resistance from the Sena, had reasoned that he won’t return to India until “things are settled down”.
“Ghulam Ali has himself declared that he will not come to India. We congratulate him for the stand and wish that he would stick to it in future also. He should act as a peacemaker against fundamentalists like Hafiz Saeed and change their mind with his art,” the editorial said.
Reiterating its anti-Pakistan stand, the Sena said it was not against the Pakistani singer but his country’s role in disturbing peace in India.
