Police Deployed Outside Amitabh Bachchan’s House After Congress Leader’s ‘Black Flag’ Call

Mumbai: Security has been stepped up outside Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s house in Mumbai. A police car was seen outside his Mumbai residence ‘Jalsa’. Along with Big B, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar was also slammed by Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Saturday over their silence on fuel price hike.

Nana Patole said black flags will be shown to Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan whenever they are spotted outside or when their movies release.

On Wednesday, Nana Patole asked why Bollywood celebrities, including both the actors, who had tweeted about high fuel prices during the UPA regime were quiet now.

Stars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar had tweeted when the price of petrol rose to Rs 70 per litre, Patole asked earlier.

“But now the price is nearly Rs 100 per litre. Why are they quiet? Don’t they have the courage to speak against the dictatorial Modi government,” the Maharashtra Congress chief said.

Continuing his attack on Saturday, the Congress leader said, “I didn’t speak against Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan but against their work. They’re not real heroes. If they were, they would’ve stood beside people during their sufferings. If they want to continue being ‘kagaz ke sher’, then we don’t have any problem.”

“We haven’t stepped back. We’ll show black flags to them whenever their films are released or when we spot them. We’ll follow democratic ways. We are not ‘Godse wale’ but ‘Gandhi wale’,” he added.

Earlier, Nana Patole also said, “The UPA government functioned democratically, hence they could criticise it.”

Fuel prices should be reduced to give relief to the common people, he added.

Besides high petrol and diesel prices, the price of LPG cylinder too has gone up to Rs 800, Patole noted.

“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people are facing a lot of hardship. Since international crude prices have come down, petrol should have cost Rs 35 per litre and diesel Rs 25 per litre,” he said.

The state Congress will launch a protest if the fuel price hike is not rolled back, he warned.

(With inputs from PTI)