Gujarat does not belong to Mr Modi: Big B

Hitting out at critics who have attacked him for his association with BJP-ruled Gujarat, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Friday said he is promoting tourism in the state and not its Chief Minister Narendra Modi and no one can stop him from doing that.

'I am not promoting the politics or the governance of Mr Narendra Modi the chief minister, or Mr Narendra Modi the individual. Gujarat does not belong to Mr Modi. It belongs to India and I as a proud citizen of my country, have every constitutional right to promote a part of my country,' he said in his latest blog.

'I want to see...who is going to stop me from glorifying them!! Attack me, abuse me, crucify me...do what you can and will...I shall not stop. I am going to do it!!' he wrote.

Describing Modi as a democratically elected and constitutionally appointed head of the state, Bachchan said, 'If people have a problem with him, why did you elect him? If he has done some wrong conduct a legal enquiry and let the law of the land take its normal course. We will honour and have faith in the law of the land.'

'But if you are going to abuse and attack me for associating myself with Gujarat because you find fault in Mr Modi its chief minister, then please also abuse and attack all others that associate themselves with Gujarat.'

He further wrote, 'If you question the appointment of Mr Modi as the democratically elected constitutional head of a State, then please question every democratically elected honourable member of the legislative Assembly and Parliament.'

Bachchan said Gujarat was there before Modi and shall remain even after him. 'The divine temple of Somnath in Gujarat was not built personally by Mr Modi, nor did he construct the ancient civilisations of Harappa, nor did he have a hand in the existence of the lost city of Dwarka, or the beauteous white soils of the Rann of Kutch, and neither did he order the construction of the largest number of heritage sites in the state.'

'These are all vital important and exquisite jewels in the crown of the majestic state of Gujarat, in the most beautiful country of the world, India,' he said.

Recalling his promotion of Uttar Pradesh, Bachchan said he had studied the Central government report that UP was not the state with the largest number of crimes. 'The text of my words were… anya pranto ke mukable may, UP may jurm kam hai…' which when broadly translated in English means 'compared to other states, crime in UP is lesser'. No where was it accepted that there is no crime in the state.'

'As a member of the Council consisting of the biggest icons of Industry in the country -- Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, prominent educationists, pioneers in the medical world, Adi Godrej and several others -- it was my task to prepare content which would assist and invite investment into Uttar Pradesh to enhance development and progress,' the filmstar wrote.