MUMBAI, 9 April 2008 — Hitting hard at Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan told a local tabloid here yesterday that he was not a coward and would not succumb to any pressure and flee Mumbai. Bachchan said he was pained by the campaign against him and that he was not an outsider as being portrayed by the MNS and its leader.
Dispelling rumors about his moving out of the city, Bachchan said: “I’m not leaving Mumbai and moving out to any other city. It does not matter if my detractors throw thousands of bottles or stones at my house or burn my effigies, or hold rallies in front of my house. Let them know that nothing would affect me even if they blacken my film posters, halt screening of my films, attack me with stones and sticks or whatever else is in their arsenal.”
An angry Bachchan added: “Let them abuse me in the print and electronic media and also let them implicate me in false cases. I am not budging. Nobody can force me to leave Mumbai or to change the course of my conscience.”
The actor spoke emotionally about the attacks on his reputation and integrity, and on being labeled an outsider in a city where he spent a major part of his life.
“I am not an outsider by any stretch of imagination. This land is my land as much as it is every other citizen’s. I came to Mumbai in 1968 to pursue a vocation. I did not need a visa to come here,” Bachchan said.
On Tuesday, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray came out in defense of Bachchan when he lavished praise on the Bollywood star and sang a different tune calling Bachchan a super star of the entire country. “Amitabh is not just a star of one particular state, but the superstar of the whole country. Hence it is improper to drag him into needless controversy of regionalism,” Thackeray wrote in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
Sources close to MNS President Raj Thackeray said the party chief had not taken Bachchan’s comments to the media lightly and would respond to it shortly.
