Actor and politician Khushbu tweeted on Monday that she was being trolled by a few who'd discovered that she was born Nakhat Khan.
"Fools, that's my name given to me by my parents...AND YES I AM A KHAN...NOW WHAT?" she asked.
The actor also said that the trolls were "late bloomers" and that they were "47 years late".
Khushbu, who is the National Spokesperson of the Congress party, has been sharing memes and articles that take potshots at the BJP and PM Modi.
This seems to be the reason why her birth name has become relevant although TNM cannot vouch for the authenticity of the Twitter accounts which have called Khushbu by her Muslim name.
Previously, actor Vijay, whose full name is Joseph Vijay, was targeted by the BJP after the party and its supporters took objection to a few scenes in Mersal which criticised demonetisation and GST.
H Raja, the National Secretary of the BJP, even tweeted the actor’s voter ID, which had his full name, in a bid to suggest that he’d hidden his Christian identity from the public all along.
Just as neither actor Vijay's full name nor religion is secret in Tamil Nadu, Khushbu's Muslim identity is well-known in the state. The actor made her debut in south Indian cinema with the 1986 Telugu film Kaliyuga Pandavulu and went on to do more than a hundred films. She has acted with Rajinikanth as well as Kamal Haasan and was so popular at the peak of her career that her fans even built a temple in her name.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)