BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya retracts comments on actor Shah Rukh Khan

“If there was intolerance in India, Shah Rukh Khan would not have matched the popularity of Amitabh Bachchan,” Vijayvargiya added.

अगर भारत में असहिष्णुता होती तो अमिताभ के बाद सर्वाधिक लोकप्रिय अभिनेता शाहरुख़ न होते, मेरे ट्वीट को कुछ लोगो ने अलग अर्थो में लिया है। 1/2

— Kailash Vijayvargiya (@KailashOnline) November 4, 2015

मेरा उद्देश्य किसी को भी ठेस पहुँचाना कतई नहीं था। मैं अपना कल का ट्वीट वापिस लेता हूँ। 2/2

— Kailash Vijayvargiya (@KailashOnline) November 4, 2015

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In remarks that were widely condemned, the BJP leader had said that Shah Rukh “lives in Hindustan, but his soul resides in Pakistan.”

Read: Shah Rukh in India, his ‘aatma’ in Pakistan, says BJP leader

Vijayvargiya questioned Khan’s patriotism saying he had become a “Bharat virodhi” (anti-India) and seemed to have joined “international forces” out to “defame India and dampen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development agenda”.

The BJP was quick to distance itself from the controversy with senior leader Prakash Javadekar saying the party does not endorse Vijayvargiya’s views.

Vijayvargiya was the architect of the BJP’s victory in Haryana and is now the party in-charge of its West Bengal unit.