If you think the Bofors scandal is the only reason for which Amitabh Bachchan quit politics, you're wrong.
In the latest update on his blog, Amitabh Bachchan recalls one of the incidents that helped him realise that politics is the wrong field for a superstar actor:
'During my short stint in politics and perhaps became the decided in my decision to withdraw was an incident that occurred in Assam. For the Assembly elections in that state, I was sent to canvass for the party. An error of judgment forced my helicopter to land at the wrong destination. It belonged to the opposition,' writes Bachchan.
In the 1980s, Bachchan was elected a Member of Parliament (Congress Party) from an Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh constituency.
'There was instant physical reaction and the pilot advised we make a hurried exit. As I sat back in the plane, a young student broke the cordon, ran up to me, thrust his fist through the glass window and handed me a piece of paper. It read - 'Mr Bachchan, I am a big fan of yours, but I am with the opposite party. Please leave this state you are making life very difficult for me for I am torn between two desires,' he continues in the April 28 blog post.
It was one of emotional plea, one that left the Big B thinking long and hard.
'I felt for 25 years I had tried to woo my audience to love me as an artist as an actor. And once I had accomplished that I was now telling them to love my politics as well. Not acceptable to me. It was wrong. I was wrong. I was dividing my audience and my fans,' Bachchan writes.
'I was asking them to sever a leg from their body and donate it to my party. I could never do that. It was distressing for me and still is. My reticence from politics is ruled and governed by that incident and it is the reason why I shall never ever go in that domain again. I would be unfaithful to myself and to my greatest asset -- my well wishers, my fans.'