Javed Akhtar, lyricist and scriptwriter, today said that he is a patriot and has never had "anti-national" thoughts. The lyricist has often been called an "anti-national" on social media for his anti-establishment tweets.
"I am only a patriot, everyone else is anti-national. Have never had such (anti-national) ideology or thoughts," Mr Akhtar said at an event in Mumbai.
The event has been organised by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to celebrate the 75th birthday of senior party leader Chaggan Bhujbal. Mr Bhujbal, who has served as the Maharashtra deputy chief minister, is known as the Other Backward Class (OBC) face of the party.
Along with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, several other Opposition leaders are at the event. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah also spoke at the event.
Pointing to all the leaders on the stage, Javed Akhtar said that "Hindustan" (India) was sitting there.
"At this stage, there are leaders from different parties. Hindustan is sitting here," the 77-year-old said.
Last year, the veteran lyricist had hit out at the right-wing ideology calling it "repressive".
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