Shouting slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Shah Rukh Khan Haye Haye”, against Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, right wing protestors threw stones on the star’s car at the parking lot of a luxury hotel in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The protest against the actor was supposedly over his earlier remarks on ‘intolerance’. Khan has maintained silence on social media and otherwise, over the incident so far.
The film’s crew members are staying in the hotel but the 50 year old actor was not there at the time of the incident, as he arrived here only this afternoon. The shooting is taking place in Bhuj.
After an FIR for rioting and damaging property was filed in this regard in the evening, at least seven persons, claimed to be associated with the right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), were detained, police said.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) B U Jadeja, 8 to 10 persons threw stones in the open parking lot of Hyatt Regency Hotel on Ashram Road, where Shahrukh’s vehicle was parked, this morning and fled from the spot.
As per the complaint lodged by the Security Officer of the hotel, 8 to 10 persons came on bikes and threw stones on cars parked in the open parking lot early this morning. Due to the stone pelting, windscreen of Shahrukh Khan’s car got damaged. We have learnt that Shahrukh Khan was not there in the hotel when the incident took place. Some of his crew members, who have come here for shooting, were staying in the hotel. Shahrukh landed in the city this afternoon for the shoot.B U Jadeja, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad
Meanwhile, a video showing unidentified persons throwing stones inside the hotel also surfaced on social media platforms. In the video, stones have been pelted on the vehicle by people who were chanting slogans like Jai Sri Ram and Shah Rukh Khan Hai Hai! From the media reports, it emerges that no one was hurt in the incident.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat unit of VHP has reportedly claimed responsibility for the incident. The outfit’s State spokesperson Raju Patel said the detained persons are associated with VHP and threw stones on Shahrukh’s car as part of their ongoing protests against the actor.
In November last year, Shahrukh sparked a debate when he said during an interview that there was ‘extreme intolerance’ in India. However, the actor retracted his statements just a few days later, claiming his comments were ‘misconstrued’.
SRK stood firmly in support of Indian writers who were returning their awards to protest against the growing intolerance in the country.
“Our religion cannot be defined or showed respect to by our meat-eating habits. How banal and silly is that,” the superstar had remarked on his 50th birthday in November, 2015 after incidents of mob attacks over rumours of beef eating and cow slaughter and killings of noted rationalist writers.
Raees is scheduled to release on August 2016. The actor and his youngest son AbRam were mobbed outside a toy shop in Bhuj last week and now he’s being attacked directly.
(With Agency Inputs)
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