Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today expressed concern over BJP MP Yogi Adityanath's attack on Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for his comments over "intolerance" in India.
Gogoi in a statement here termed Yogi Adityanath's comment as "despicable, deplorable and unfortunate" for having drawn a parallel between Shah Rukh Khan and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
"In a country like India where secularism is one of the tenets of the Preamble, making such kind of remark stokes communal passion and vitiates communal amity.
"Actor like Shah Rukh Khan is a cultural icon and has acted in several films to strike a friendly chord with our immediate neighbour. Comparing him with terrorists does not go down well at the time when divisive forces are at work," Gogoi said.
Referring to another instance where Union Cultural Minister Mahesh Sharma called former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam a nationalist despite being a 'Muslim', Gogoi said anybody can be nationalist irrespective of his or her religion.
Ministers and MPs of the NDA regime should desist from making such "provocative" comments to ensure that the country's name does not get besmirched due to flare-up between people of different faiths, he added.
