Ram Gopal Verma soon after clarified on his tweet on Droupadi Murmu (FILE)
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, whose tweets often land him in trouble, has courted a fresh controversy. A case has been filed against him for a controversial tweet with a 'Mahabharata' reference on Droupadi Murmu, the presidential candidate of the BJP.
"If DRAUPADI is the PRESIDENT who are the PANDAVAS? And more importantly, who are the KAURAVAS?" read his tweet.
Telangana BJP leader Gudur Narayana Reddy filed a complaint against Mr Varma for the tweet, accusing him of disrespecting the SC/ST community. "The police have promised us that they will take stern action against him, aafter which, I don't think he will again tweet or make such a nasty statement against anyone," he added.
The filmmaker soon after issued a clarification: "Draupadi in Mahabharata is my faviourate character but Since the name is such a rarity I just remembered the associated characters and hence my expression. Not at all intended to hurt sentiments of anyone".
Another BJP MLA from Telangana criticised Ram Gopal Varma , saying that the director posts such tweets in a "drunken state". "Varma always tries to be in the news by making such controversial comments," he added.
Mr Varma recently jumped into a row involving Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn's and Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjeev over Hindi being the national language. In a tweet, he accused Bollywood actors of being "insecure and jealous" of the success of their southern counterparts.