Bollywood veteran Amir Khan visited Turkey for the shooting of his film Laal Singh Chaddha and met with the wife of President Erdogan. The first lady, Emine Erdogan tweeted to share her pleasure in meeting the actor.
Despite the wonderful time spent between the actor and the first lady, some bakhts (blind followers) of extremist movements in India started trolling Khan. They were infuriated upon learning that Khan had the audacity to visit Turkey and meet the leader’s wife when there are several diplomatic issues between Turkey and India
Amir Khan Gets Trolled By Bakhts on Social Media
Trolls accused Amir Khan of double standards because at one hand he runs a chat show focused on predominant social issues in India and on the other he meets with the leaders of a country which is allegedly against India. Turkey is accused of being anti-India because it supports Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir more than India’s.
Trolls carried on by establishing Amir Khan as an Anti-Hindu stating that he also did not attend a Jewish Shalom festival in Mumbai 2 years ago where Israelite PM Netanyahu was present along with Indian PM and many other Bollywood celebrities. According to Bakhts, Israel and India have successful relationships and Netanyahu supports India on the matter of Kashmir.
Some bakhts alleged that AK had given anti-Indian statements to the lady considering his views about growing intolerance in India. Many users condemned AK for feeling unsafe in India and safer (and happier) in Turkey. They also promoted the notion of boycotting the film which Amir went to shoot in Turkey.
Is Highlighting Crucial Issues in the Country Anti-Nationalism?
He expressed his views about intolerance 5 years ago in a journalist award ceremony which stayed with the bakhts till date.
Once, AK was also grilled on the Indian news channel during which he claimed that he was misquoted on the intolerance issue. He meant to raise voice against the issue instead of labeling India as intolerant.
Bakht Bashers To The Rescue
It did not make sense for some Indians to consider Amir Khan an Anti-National on meeting Turkish First Lady. In India, lot of people follow Turkish dramas so this meeting shouldn’t bother them on extreme level. This led some folks to guess what could have really bothered them
Amir Khan’s meeting with Emine Erdogan went more pleasant than Modi’s meeting with the lady couple of years ago. This fact can painfully offend any persistent bakhts.
Journalist/Author Saba Naqvi highlighted the harmful extremism towards minorities in India. She figured that if there was any Hindu actor in place of Amir Khan then this debate would have never happened. In fact, that moment would have been captured, glorified, and monumentalized in India for the rest of life.
In the end the terms like national or anti-national does not matter given the humanitarian crises that are going on in India. Aside from some extremists, there are no intellectual Indians who wanted to troll Amir Khan on the meeting.
