Congress vs Amitabh Bachchan

[asterix]

Congress attacks Bachchan, Modi The Congress on Monday launched a full-scale attack on Amitabh Bachchan daring him to endorse Gujarat Chief Minister's "role" in the 2002 riots as Narendra Modi joined the battle dubbing critics in the party as "Talibans of untouchability". Modi's taunts of Congressmen in his blog angered Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, who said the chief minister is "very, very frustrated" in the wake of his marathon grilling by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT going into Gujarat riots. There has been bad blood between Congress and the actor, who was once a Congress MP and was close to the Gandhis, and things came to a head after his presence in a Maharashtra government function in Mumbai last week. At the AICC briefing, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari questioned Bachchan's role as brand ambassador of Gujarat. "I'm going to ask Mr Bachchan a direct question. I want to ask him as the brand ambassador of Gujarat, does he condemn the role of Narendra Modi and his government in the pogrom that took place in 2002 or does he endorse it?....what does he say about the Guajrat massacre and fake encounters that took place since Modi took over." Tewari said if he (Bachchan) was sensible and right-thinking, he should come out strongly and condemn the riots and "after that I will see for how long does he remain a brand ambassador." His party colleague and Information Minister Ambika Soni attacked Modi saying "I can understand that Modi is feeling very, very frustrated because for the first time in 63 years, a chief minister elected by the people is being made to stand before a Special Investigating Team for about 10 hours in a question-answer session." This, she said, has apparently frustrated him to use the word Taliban in a "light and flippant" manner. "Those who have been victims of Taliban, know what Taliban is. He has used the word Taliban so lightly. He should make such statements with some seriousness." Coming out in support of Bachchan, Modi attacked Congressmen for objecting to the actor's presence at a Maharashtra government function in Mumbai. "These Talibans of untouchability have lost all their sensibilities in their pursuit of anti-Gujarat attitudes. They may well in future tell us not not eat even salt. They may even ban the eating of Amul butter and milk and order our young people not to wear denim jeans. And guess why? Because Gujarat produces these things." http://www.indianexpress.com/news/congressattacksbachchan-modi/597106/0

[ViruRulez]

It is an ass act of Congress to attack Big B .. he is representing a state tourism and it is an ass act to attack him .. I cannot understand attacking even for their personal reasons .. Congress seems to have lost their mind .. I dont find the political connection too as he is just promoting tourism and not politics

[Guest Hiten.]

AB should ask if the Congressmen endorse or condemn the Golden temple incident. Chewtiyas trying to be morale police is a complete :fail: and obvious.

[asterix]

Big B should ask Congress what happened to the 1984 Ant-Sikh riot culprits? What happened to the culprits who clamped Emergency on the country and many people systematically eliminated?

[Lurker]

Big B lost my respect long back. From indulging with likes of Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh, promoting his son shamelessly, making sure Aishwarya Rai did not do any kissing scenes etc(and when she did it was taken off). In this story why would Big B try to be the brand ambassdor for Gujarat? He has absolutely no connection from there. I mean one can understand him representing UP or even Maharastra but Gujarat makes little sense. I wonder if he is doing this for any other reason. As for 2002 riots any person who would represent Gujarat stands to be targetted for 2002 riots. Even someone like Ratan tata who enjoys unanimous goodwill was criticized when he moved his Nano factory to Gujarat. xxx

[Clarke]

In this story why would Big B try to be the brand ambassdor for Gujarat? He has absolutely no connection from there. I mean one can understand him representing UP or even Maharastra but Gujarat makes little sense. I wonder if he is doing this for any other reason. As for 2002 riots any person who would represent Gujarat stands to be targetted for 2002 riots. Even someone like Ratan tata who enjoys unanimous goodwill was criticized when he moved his Nano factory to Gujarat. xxx

Big B had agreed to be brand ambassador for Kerala as well, whats the big deal in that ? Its another story that the Kerala govt changed its mind. The idea that anyone linked to Gujarat has to be targeted is insane in all respects. Perhaps one should not forget that there's more to Gujarat other than 2002. This single-minded obsession of connecting Godhra whenever Gujarat comes in the news is disgusting to say the least. What else can we expect 4m the vote hungry sickular kangress and the *****y media that we have.

[ViruRulez]

Big B lost my respect long back. From indulging with likes of Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh, promoting his son shamelessly, making sure Aishwarya Rai did not do any kissing scenes etc(and when she did it was taken off). In this story why would Big B try to be the brand ambassdor for Gujarat? He has absolutely no connection from there. I mean one can understand him representing UP or even Maharastra but Gujarat makes little sense. I wonder if he is doing this for any other reason. As for 2002 riots any person who would represent Gujarat stands to be targetted for 2002 riots. Even someone like Ratan tata who enjoys unanimous goodwill was criticized when he moved his Nano factory to Gujarat. xxx

He is not promoting Gujarat govt. but is promoting only Gujarat tourism .. I dont see any big deal with that .. Gujarat tourism is a part of Indian tourism and I dont see any wrong with that

[asterix]

Is Gujarat riot is the only riot we had in India after Independence? What about the riots during partition? Who's going to be blamed for that? I guess not Kangressis or Pandit Nehru..Or were they?

[straight.drive]

Big B had agreed to be brand ambassador for Kerala as well, whats the big deal in that ? Its another story that the Kerala govt changed its mind. The idea that anyone linked to Gujarat has to be targeted is insane in all respects. Perhaps one should not forget that there's more to Gujarat other than 2002. This single-minded obsession of connecting Godhra whenever Gujarat comes in the news is disgusting to say the least. What else can we expect 4m the vote hungry sickular kangress and the *****y media that we have.

Add to that list the mass of left-leaning, hinduism bashing, Capitalism hating, naxal praising "intellectuals" that are seen in every nook and corner of our Universities.

[seedhi]

Big B lost my respect long back. From indulging with likes of Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh, promoting his son shamelessly, making sure Aishwarya Rai did not do any kissing scenes etc(and when she did it was taken off). In this story why would Big B try to be the brand ambassdor for Gujarat? He has absolutely no connection from there. I mean one can understand him representing UP or even Maharastra but Gujarat makes little sense. I wonder if he is doing this for any other reason. As for 2002 riots any person who would represent Gujarat stands to be targetted for 2002 riots. Even someone like Ratan tata who enjoys unanimous goodwill was criticized when he moved his Nano factory to Gujarat. xxx

Amitabh Bachchan has his faults, but in this case the Congress has displayed its absolutist and hypocritical attitude. AB is a very easy target for them, but have they boycotted Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal for stating the Modi is PM material? Ofcourse not. Also, if the Congress stand was principled, then Mr Ashok Chavan could have left the bridge opening ceremony when AB arrived on the invitation of his own minister. But instead, Chavan warmy welcomed AB and stayed for the whole function and later, under obvious pressure from the "high command", claimed that he was unaware that AB would be there. It is perfectly fine to disagree with AB and criticize him, even though I think it is misplaced in this case. But the hypocrisy of the Congress is sickening. Let the Congress show the guts and also pose these same questions to Ratan Tata, Ambanis, Mittal etc who have directly praised Modi. I would also like the Congress to attempt to ostracize these industrialists. All this drama has more to do with the animosity b/w the Bachchans and Sonia Gandhi whose stamp is visible all over this matter. AB is an easy target as well, so the Congressis are going for it.

[suma25]

In this story why would Big B try to be the brand ambassdor for Gujarat? He has absolutely no connection from there. I mean one can understand him representing UP or even Maharastra but Gujarat makes little sense. I wonder if he is doing this for any other reason. As for 2002 riots any person who would represent Gujarat stands to be targetted for 2002 riots. Even someone like Ratan tata who enjoys unanimous goodwill was criticized when he moved his Nano factory to Gujarat. xxx

I dont know its pretty tricky.Do you target the whole state like some people earlier said just because of the act of some idiotic people , inspite of the progress it has made. It was guj govt which invited him to be gujarat ambassador and he accepted it ,Some may see it as him endorsing modi govt while some may see it as just promoting gujarat progress or gujarat tourism. I think He should make it clear on where he stands which he never will which is so typical of him and try to project himself as holier than thou. As for Ratan Tata he is like any other business man just a tad better . ps : On a side note wasnt there anyone from literary circle or social circle in gujarat good enough to promote gujarat. If it was in Maharashtra there would have been serious amount of discontent amongst the marathi literary and social circles and maharashtrian populace in general.

[asterix]

Suma, the idea is to promote Gujarat tourism by someone who is famous internationally. AB is the perfect celebrity to promote Gujarat. It's the state Govt. decision, Gujarati people have no objection to it, why are other people objecting it? Why nobody says anything about the 1984 Delhi pogrom by Kangressis when 1000s of Sikhs were butchered?

[Desi Cartman]

something for congress .. how about not taking support of Mayawati , Laloo and many other corrupt parties n people. Then to sack the ones responsible for messing up Punjab problem , Kashmir , Moaists .. then sack Narayan datt tiwari for doing prostitutes in Raj Bhawan ... then settle the CBI cases against many congress MPs. Then punish the ones responsible for 84 riots , mandal riots , babri masjid riots and then Gujarat riots. Modi may or may not be responsible ( IMO he is ). BTW Congress is going back to its old policy , how come there are riots in hyd and barelli when nothing happened in the last 8 yrs ?

[suma25]

Suma, the idea is to promote Gujarat tourism by someone who is famous internationally. AB is the perfect celebrity to promote Gujarat. It's the state Govt. decision, Gujarati people have no objection to it, why are other people objecting it?

I have no problem if gujarat has chosen him as a brand ambassador.but shoudnt the brand ambasssador know abt or be aware of atleast the state culture etc to promote it . Doubt amitabh would know anything abt gujarat beyond fafda and dhokla and dandiya raas .

[suma25]

Vir sanghvi's piece on the whole issue

Why pick on Amitabh? 20 Comments Let me say, straight out, that I do not accept the basic distinction that Amitabh Bachchan is trying to make between being a brand ambassador for Gujarat and a brand ambassador for Narendra Modi. All of us know how Amitabh agreed to become a brand ambassador, how he went to see Narendra Modi, how he was photographed cosying up to Modi, asking for entertainment tax exemption and how he accepted Modi’s request to do something for Gujarat. It is clear that his work for Gujarat flows directly from his meeting with Modi. It is as clear that if he disapproved of Modi, he would have said no. To make a distinction of a sort that he is now engaging in, is plain silly. That said, I think the Congress is being even sillier.

http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/medium-term/2010/03/30/why-pick-on-amitabh/#more-215

[Lurker]

On a side note wasnt there anyone from literary circle or social circle in gujarat good enough to promote gujarat. If it was in Maharashtra there would have been serious amount of discontent amongst the marathi literary and social circles and maharashtrian populace in general.

Your side note is actually where I am coming from Suma. Look its all good and great to have a fellow Indian be a brand ambassdor for your state but the authenticity always goes missing if a Mohanlal becomes brand ambassdor for Bihar, say. Sure he is well within his rights and all that but really do we expect Amitabh to know about Gujarat? How?? The brand ambassadors, to me, are sons of the soil, folks from literature/sports/journalism/arts who wear the logo of their state on their back. I have no issues with a Malika Sarabhai representing Gujarat, or a Lata Mangeshkar representing Maharastra but if you switch that around I would find it entirely misplaced. xxx

[asterix]

Oh. So according to some wierd logic the Brand Ambassadors for 'Save The tiger project' should be Tigers themselves.. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/big-b-roped-in-as-brand-ambassador-for-%5Csave-our-tigers%5C/89470/on Arrey leave them alone. Let them do the good work. First Kangressis should punish culprits of the Muslims slaughtered during partition, then the Kangressi culprits of the 1984 Anti-Sikh pogrom (most of the present Kangressis, infact even Sonia Gandhi herself are involved in the Anti-Sikh riots), then discuss about Modi and others.

[Lurker]

Oh. So according to some wierd logic the Brand Ambassadors for 'Save The tiger project' should be Tigers themselves..

gujrati brand ambassador representing gujarat = tiger representing tigers. I think you got the point in its entirety.

[asterix]

gujrati brand ambassador representing gujarat = tiger representing tigers. I think you got the point in its entirety.

Oh I was wrong. So as per your logic, Adiwasis living in the forest should be brand ambassadors for Tigers in 'save the tiger' project? Why would the normal World care about your logic? If you check the link I posted above, your logic doesn't works in normal World. It can work in a Kangressi World.. Still no comments about 1000s of muslims killed during partition? What happened to those kangressis who butchered trains full of muslims?

[Lurker]

Oh I was wrong. So as per your logic, Adiwasis living in the forest should be brand ambassadors for Tigers in 'save the tiger' project?

Nope. Try again.

Still no comments about 1000s of muslims killed during partition? What happened to those kangressis who butchered trains full of muslims?

No comments because you're one-track mind is looking at this thing as Congress-nonCongress scenario. I have no reason to fall for that lame argument. My criticism has been fairly well explained. If you dont see it, ask again. xxx