‘How can Shiv Sena question SRK, a freedom fighter’s son?’

New Delhi: The Shiv Sena has no right to ask Shah Rukh Khan to go to Pakistan, says 83-year-old freedom fighter Trilochan Singh, pointing out that the Bollywood superstar’s father was a prominent Quit India movement activist who chose to migrate to Delhi from Peshawar during partition.

“It is so ironical and tragic that the Shiv Sena which didn’t do anything during the freedom struggle is asking Shah Rukh to leave,” said Singh, who had joined the Quit India movement along with the actor’s father, Taj Mohammad Mir, in Peshawar, which now lies in Pakistan.

“What is important here is that we were Hindus and we quit Pakistan, but here was a Muslim who chose to come to India. How can the Shiv Sena tell Shah Rukh, whose whole family was involved in the freedom fight, to go to Pakistan?” agonised Singh while talking exclusively to IANS.

Shiv Sena activists are seeking an apology from Shah Rukh over his remarks against the exclusion of Pakistani players from the Indian Premier League and have threatened to ban his upcoming release, “My Name Is Khan” in Mumbai theatres if he doesn’t retract his statement.

They demonstrated in front of his house, carrying what they called was a ticket to Pakistan.

“Both I and Shah Rukh’s father Taj Mohammad are from Peshawar (Pakistan). We were involved in the Quit India movement. Taj Mohammad’s elder brother Ghulam Mohammad Gama was an illustrious freedom fighter in Peshawar. And that’s how Taj Mohammad got involved.

“Both Taj and I were around the same age. We used to be popular teenage public speakers. Both of us got arrested,” said Singh, a Congress member who once worked closely with former prime minister Indira Gandhi and accompanied her during elections.

“After matriculation I moved to Lahore and there I revived the Quit India movement among the students. I was arrested in Lahore and finally I was exiled from Punjab. So I came back to Peshawar.”

“Taj was born and brought up in Peshawar. They had a business in Qissa Khwani Bazaar. It is still the main maret in Peshawar. We carried on the Quit India movement. Taj Mohammad and Ghulam Mohammad were prominent participants in the movement.”

Singh said that after independence, Shah Rukh’s father was one of the few Muslims who decided to leave Pakistan and settle in India.

“After independence, I came to Delhi. Incidentally Taj also came to Delhi. He was one of the few Muslims who migrated to India from Pakistan.

“The Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray had nothing to do with the freedom struggle and they are asking Shah Rukh to go back to Pakistan. It’s very shameful for Shiv Sena leaders. They are saying it because he is a Muslim. I think we all Indians owe it to our freedom that the Shiv Sena should not get away with such statements,” Trilochan Singh told IANS.

Singh is not too active in politics any more and is more involved in cultural activities. He is the secretary of Heritage Society of India and also chairman of the Dr.Shroff Charity Eye Hospital in Darya Ganj.

(Arpana can be contacted at arpana.s@ians.in)
 

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