MUMBAI: Taking serious note of the controversial remarks of Samajwadi Party member of Parliament and actor Jaya Bachchan, the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna published yesterday advised Jaya not to provoke Maharashtrians.
It was Mumbai that gave identity and fame to the Bachchan family at a time when they were totally an unknown commodity, he said. Thackeray with whom the Bachchan family has close and cordial relations, said that Jaya’s husband Amitabh was a great artist whose acting talent crossed all geographical and lingual barriers.
“Jaya has been making controversial statements that have vitiated the atmosphere leading to discord and which has also caused mental agony to her husband,” Thackeray said.
A remark by Jaya that she would speak in Hindi language in Maharashtra at a function in Mumbai on Sunday and that since she is from the Hindi belt of northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, “Maharashtrians should forgive her,” had prompted Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray to issue a “ban” against movies in which members of the Bachchan family are starring.
However, in a late evening development on Monday, Jaya issued an apology. “I apologize for the statement I made. I speak Marathi fluently and I have no hatred toward the language. It was not my intention to hurt any sentiments.”
However, MNS leader Shishir Shinde rejected the apology of Jaya and said that she had spoken before a few English media journalists.
