It started out as a statement protecting national pride.
A movie star of Shah Rukh Khan’s fame is detained for a little over an hour at Newark airport in the US. Khan alleges being racially profiled for a Muslim surname; swears never to return to the US.
Ambika Soni, the I&B minister, suggests equal and opposite reaction against Americans visiting India. The Indian government strongly takes up the matter with the US authorities.
Within two days, the actor completely backtracked at a press conference on Tues-day, claiming he hadn’t created a brouhaha over a standard security procedure; merely questioned its logic.
“I don't think its a big deal and I don't think I need to be treated specially,” Khan said.
The turnaround is attributed to strong criticism of his actions in the blogosphere and newspaper editorials. The blog posts included: “All these calls of injustice from politicians and stars reaffirms the idolatry of VIP status in India.”