Akshay Kumar was in Delhi University on Monday to promote his upcoming release PadMan. The actor was present at a women’s marathon event which was organised as a mark of women’s empowerment keeping with the theme of his film. The marathon was also a space where participants joined their voices together to demand for a tax-exemption on sanitary napkins.
However, the seemingly non-political and social cause driven event got a political tone when Akshay Kumar went on to use a flag belonging to the BJP’s youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to kick-off the marathon. Akshay tweeted a picture of him flagging off the marathon with the message:
“Flagged off Delhi University’s Women Marathon. These lovely ladies are taking the cause of women empowerment forward and running for tax-free sanitary pads #PadManInDelhi”Akshay Kumar (Twitter)
Here are some of the tweets from those who felt that it was totally out of place for Akshay to use the ABVP flag at a non-political event to promote his film. They also felt that by holding the right-wing group’s flag, Akshay was backing their alleged policy of hatred towards minorities and anti-feminist stand.
Akshay is known for his pro-government stance. The actor’s film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, in 2017 had a sequence that totally backed PM Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move. The Bollwood Khiladi had also met Modi in May last year to seek his blessings for the film.
Akshay’s wife and writer Twinkle Khanna, who’s quite vocal about her anti-right wing opinions had earlier tweeted that being married to someone does not mean that one also shares the same ideology with your partner. Clearly, Akshay is not hiding his political colours and the waving of the ABVP flag wasn’t an innocent act.
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