Rationalist and Humanist Babu Gogineni, who was eliminated from television reality show Bigg Boss 2 on Sunday, took to Facebook to recount his experience being part of the show and especially his interaction with the host, Kamal Haasan.
He said that Kamal Haasan announced on stage that the two had rational minds.
As part of the promotion of Vishwaroopam 2, Kamal had come to Telugu Bigg Boss house. During his interaction with the contestants, the actor-host claimed that he and Babu Gogineni had a rationalist mind.
Gogineni also recalled his memory of a failed attempt to meet him in Chennai earlier in 1999.
“In 1999, I tried to meet him in Chennai when I went there for some other purpose. No one would tell me where exactly he lived, so I did not succeed in locating his house. Now, 19 years later, one feels so elated when the same giant, India's greatest living cinema actor, comes to the house I am staying in, addresses me by name, even though we have had no prior contact, declares that we are both connected by our rationalist mind, and discusses Humanism in front of tens of millions of viewers with me,” he wrote.
An excited Gogineni further added, “I presented my T-shirt to him and he said that he would cherish it. The text on the T-shirt reads REASONOTRELIGION. Figure it out!”
Babu Gogineni participated in Bigg Boss 2, but was eliminated last week, after failing to garner sufficient votes from the audience.
During in his stay in the Bigg Boss house, he was slapped with sedition charges by the Madhapur police when a petitioner filed a complaint, alleging that Gogineni hurt his religious sentiments.
Apart from Sedition, a slew of cases was registered against him, including Sections 121 (Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India), 153a (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 153b (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 292 (Obscenity), 293 (Sale, etc, of obscene objects to young person), 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 406 (Criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (Statements conducting public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Following this, several meetings were held in support of Babu, including a joint press meet at the press club in Somajiguda with members of the South Asian Humanist Association, Science for Society, Jana Vignana Vedika and Indian Humanists. Film critic Mahesh Kathi was also present.
Lawyers present explained that the petitioner, Veera Narayana Chowdary, had filed a private complaint in court, following which the police were ordered to look into the allegations.
As it was a court order, the police first registered a case and then began investigation. However, on August 1, the case was closed by the Hyderabad High Court.