Newly appointed Maharashtra state Congress president Nana Patole yesterday (February 19) threatened to stall the shooting and release of films starring Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. He was referring to the silence of the two big stars and “their failure to protest against the spiralling fuel prices”. Patole condemned their pro-Modi stand and pointed out that the two actors had spoken against the fuel price hike during the previous UPA government but were silent on the issue when fuel prices had now touched an all-time high. Bachchan had tweeted against the hike in petrol price on May 24, 2012, during the tenure of the UPA government led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Akshay Kumar had similarly poked fun at the rising fuel prices in 2011 by tweeting on May 16 that year.
Patole added that while condemning the approach of the two stars, the Congress would ensure that shootings of their films came to a grinding halt and their movies would not be released in the state. Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis dismissed Patole’s threat as a publicity stunt.
Nana Patole further said that even on the ‘anti-farmer’ laws, Bollywood had openly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He alleged that it appeared that the celebrities had surrendered to the NDA government because they did not object even when the government called farmers terrorists and Naxalites.