New Delhi: Actor Rishi Kapoor sparked a new controversy earlier this week when he tweeted that national assets which are named after the Gandhi family should be renamed. With a scathing tweet which had words, ‘Baap Ka Maal Samajh Rakha Tha Kya?’ (Is it their father’s property); he suggested the rechristening of assets.
This, obviously started a controversy. Congress supporters lashed out at Rishi while others agreed with him. Despite being name-called and abused after his tweets, Chintu Kapoor has no regrets. While speaking to renowned film journalist Subhash Jha, Rishi explained why he put out those tweets.
Rishi Kapoor said,
“To be very honest, I never expected this kind of an uproar. I expressed an honest opinion for my fellow twitterati. Just think about it. Streets and cities are being renamed. So why not change so many of the national assets that are named after one family? Isska kya matlab hua ke har cheez unke naam pe?”
Obviously since Rishi spoke against Gandhi family, he was labelled as a BJP supporter. The ‘Do Dooni Char’ actor then clarified that he is neither a BJP lover nor a Congress hater.
“I am not pro-BJP. And I am certainly not against the Congress. I am just against a certain policy of the Congress, not against the Congress leaders. I want to make this very clear. I have the highest regard for what the Congress leaders have done. I've the highest regard for what they've contributed. I was only making a statement on the tradition of naming national assets after one family. Now people are saying I am against Rajiv Gandhi and his family. Why should I be against them? They are the architects of our country.”
Many Congressmen questioned Rishi’s contribution to Hindi cinema and asserted that after ‘Bobby’ he has done nothing concrete. Reacting on this he said,
“This is absurd and childish. This is where they're going wrong. If ill-informed people are going to speak up for the Congress what can we expect? This is like a child throwing a tantrum. Please stop giving my statements a political colour. I am too small a fry to speak ill of them.”
Rishi is said he is not only anger without any solution. On the national assets controversy he said,
“Rename these national assets. Name these places after J R D Tata, Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Birlas…have they not contributed to the nation? There should be a constitutional change. Do not name national assets after politicians. Loyalties change and these assets reflect the loyalty of the part in power.”
Kapoor also accepted that he knows he gets into Twitter fights a lot but this time he is glad for what he has said.
“This time I'm glad I said what I said. I've been getting messages and calls non-stop. I want to tell the Congress bhakts I've nothing against the Gandhi family. It's their party misusing their names. Delhi has 64 prominent places named after the Gandhi parivar. Sycophancy ki bhi hadd hoti hai.Why do we need to be reminded the Gandhi family's contribution?” asked Rishi Kapoor.
