Sikkim MP Prem Das Rai on Thursday said Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra's comment that the state was insurgency-troubled was a mistake and there was no need to sensationalise the issue.
During an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where she was promoting her Sikkimese film "Pahuna: The Little Visitors", the National Award winning actress called the hilly state "insurgency troubled". She faced backlash for the comment.
Rai said she should be forgiven.
"She definitely doesn't have her facts correct. Sikkim has been an insurgency free state for three decades but she didn't know that," he said. "She has made some regrets about it.
"She is a star in her own right and Sikkim is a star in its own right. We should bury this issue without sensationalising it any further," he added.
According to Rai, what Chopra said was a mistake and this was not the general perception of Sikkim in mainland India.
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"She is travelling internationally is perhaps why she doesn't have much knowledge about what is happening here back in India.
"We should not make a mountain out of a molehill. Yes, she made a factually incorrect statement about an Indian state on the international platform, but everybody makes mistakes. It's okay," he said.
--IANS
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