BHOPAL: Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar Thursday said he does not like either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah and maintained Congress president Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to become the next PM.
Referring to a remark of the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur, Akhtar said he will suggest Modi to use her “curse” to get rid of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists.
“I do not like Modi and his assistant Amit Shah,” he told reporters here when asked what qualities he likes in the Prime Minister.
However, he praised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran L K Advani.
Vajpayee was a different person, said the noted screenwriter, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.
He criticised the BJP for branding those who don’t agree with its views as “anti-national”.
“Our country’s atmosphere stands vitiated today. The BJPs ideology is that if you are not with them then you are an anti-national,” Akhtar said.
“No. I don’t see him becoming prime minister,” he said when asked whether he sees Gandhi as a prime ministerial candidate.
“We are not witnessing a presidential form of elections. In India, people choose their respective MP and not vote for just one name or face,” he said.
The Bollywood veteran said he disapproves of Gandhi’s slogan of `chowkidar chor hai’ (the watchman is a thief), repeatedly hurled by him at Modi over the Rafale jet deal.
Akhtar said he was not aligned to the Congress now and will not be associated with the party in the future.
He said neither the BJP nor the Congress will get a majority in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and the next government would be a coalition.
Akhtar said he will suggest Modi to use the “curse” of Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Saeed and other terrorists to get them eliminated.
He was reacting to a query regarding Thakur’s statement that she had “cursed” former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare following which he died.
Thakur had later apologised for the statement. PTI
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