BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya retracts comments on actor Shah Rukh Khan

Kailash Vijayvargiya said his intention was not to hurt the feelings of anyone through his comments.

New Delhi | Updated: November 4, 2015 12:25 PM IST

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BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday retracted his earlier comments on actor Shah Rukh Khan in which he lambasted the superstar for being ‘anti-national’.

In tweets posted earlier today, the BJP leader said his earlier comments were misconstrued and that he had no intention to hurt anyone.

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

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.

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