Veteran actor Anupam Kher on Tuesday had a piece of advice for newly elected MP Gautam Gambhir: refrain from falling into the “trap of getting popular with a section of media”, after the former cricketer criticised the alleged assault on a Muslim man in Gurgaon.
Kher took to Twitter to congratulate Gambhir on his recent election victory and also advised the former cricketer. “Dear @GautamGambhir !! Congratulations on your win. As a passionate Indian it made me very happy. Not that you have asked for my advise but still- Don’t get into a trap of getting popular with a section of media. It is your work that will speak. Not necessarily your statements,” he tweeted. The 25-year-old Muslim man was allegedly slapped by a group of people in Gurgaon on May 25. He was also reportedly asked to remove his skull cap and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
The East Delhi MP had termed the incident as “deplorable” and asked the authorities to take “exemplary” action in the matter.
“In Gurugram Muslim man told to remove skullcap, chant Jai Shri Ram. It is deplorable. Exemplary action needed by Gurugram authorities. We are a secular nation where @Javedakhtarjadu writes ‘O palan-hare, nirgun aur nyare & @RakeyshOmMehra gave us d song ‘Arziyan’ in Delhi 6 (sic),” Gambhir had said in a tweet on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}“In Gurugram Muslim man told to remove skullcap, chant Jai Shri Ram. It is deplorable. Exemplary action needed by Gurugram authorities. We are a secular nation where @Javedakhtarjadu writes ‘O palan-hare, nirgun aur nyare & @RakeyshOmMehra gave us d song ‘Arziyan’ in Delhi 6 (sic),” Gambhir had said in a tweet on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}Gambhir also said his secularism emanated from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s philosophy of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ and added that any oppression based on caste or religion is deplorable.
“My thoughts on secularism emanate from honourable PM Mr Modi’s mantra “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.. I am not limiting myself to Gurugram incident alone, any oppression based on caste/religion is deplorable. Tolerance & inclusive growth is what the idea of India is based on,” he said in another tweet.
His comments, however, did not go down well with a section of his partymen in Delhi who said the cricketer-turned-politician’s remarks might be used against the BJP by the opposition parties.
Gambhir, who joined the BJP before the recent Lok Sabha polls, contested from East Delhi seat and defeated Congress’s Arvinder Singh Lovely by 3.91 lakh votes