Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has yet again got embroiled in a controversy—this time while shooting for Dabangg 3 at the religious town Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh.
The crew of Dabangg 3 has been facing opposition from locals who were against shooting a movie in a place of religious and historical importance as Maheshwar, on bank of River Narmada in Khargone district, is considered to be the abode of Lord Shiva and the capital of erstwhile Holkar dynasty.
The issue boiled over on Thursday when the BJP attacked Salman Khan and demanded an FIR against him for hurting religious sentiments. Party leaders have also said they would file a complaint with the Election Commission over the matter.
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The BJP salvo came after some photographs and videos of a Shivaling being covered by a wooden plank and people standing on the plank during the shooting went viral on Wednesday.
After controversy erupted, the plank was removed and Salman Khan appeared before the local media. The actor said he himself was a ‘Shivbhakt’ and the plank was put up to protect the Shivaling during the shooting. He said the plank was removed immediately afterwards.
The star also said he would immediately pack up and leave for UP if there was such opposition to the shooting in Madhya Pradesh. Salman Khan said he had come to MP on the invitation of chief minister Kamal Nath and thought since he has Indore connections (he was born in the MP city), he would ensure employment for the local people by the shooting the movie here.
BJP aggressive
The BJP however was on an aggressive mode and attacked the Congress-led state government. MLA Rameshwar Sharma said ever since Congress came to power, there have been many instances which hurt the Hindu sentiments. “Would the government make Salman Khan dance over the Shivaling,” he asked while talking to media.
Another leader, Hitesh Bajpai, tweeted: “people who were opposed to saying Vande Mataram were dancing on a plank put over the Shivaling”.
