Actor Shah Rukh Khan found himself at the centre of yet another uninvited controversy after visuals of him offering his respects and prayers during the last rites of Lata Mangeshkar went viral. One photo showed Shah Rukh and his manager Pooja Dadlani standing next to each other. While Dadlani was folding her hands to pay homage, Shah Rukh held up his hands in dua to do the same. Even as many dubbed it a homage to 'secular India', others questioned what followed.
Shah Rukh is seen lowering his mask and blowing towards Lata Mangeshkar's body. However, some, including a BJP leader, questioned if the Bollywood actor spit on the singer. One Arun Yadav, who is the BJP's state-in-charge for Haryana tweeted the video and asked, "Did he spit?" The comment drew flak from all quarters.
क्या इसने थूका है ❓ pic.twitter.com/RZOa2NVM5I
— Arun Yadav (@beingarun28) February 6, 2022
M Nageswara Rao IPS(R), who was former director of the CBI, also questioned Shah Rukh’s actions and said ‘Did you @iamsrk spit at the funeral of #LataMangeshkar Ji? Being a public figure you are required to give public clarification immediately.”
Did you @iamsrk spit at the funeral of #LataMangeshkar Ji?
— M. Nageswara Rao IPS(R) (@MNageswarRaoIPS) February 6, 2022
Being a public figure you are required to give public clarification immediately. pic.twitter.com/kUU3aEDN0I
Journalist Rubika Liyaquat said, "It is not spitting. it is called reading Fatiha. It is blowing after saying prayers."
अरुण जी इसे थूकना नहीं फ़ातिहा पढ़ना कहते हैं… दुआएँ पढ़कर फूंकना कहते हैं…. https://t.co/vVSS495NZA
— Rubika Liyaquat (@RubikaLiyaquat) February 6, 2022
Here were some of the other reactions to the tweet.
Don't just tweet for the sake of tweeting and creating controversy. Be little responsible.
— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) February 7, 2022
This guy is IT cell head of @BJP4Haryana .. just an example of how and at what level things work in BJP SM and what is the culture of BJP. https://t.co/teiPNpX5Hs
— Niraj Bhatia (@bhatia_niraj23) February 6, 2022
BJP state-in-charge of Haryana. Don’t expect Times Now-types to do any primetime discussion on this depraved tweet. They’ll be figuring which opposition party worker they can surreptitiously record next to run some inane sting investigation. https://t.co/Jmla6GkiP7
— Manisha Pande (@MnshaP) February 7, 2022
My Muslim roommate from school would do his evening prayers and blow a mouthful of air on me to offer me a part of the prayer’s warmth and care. A dua. To vulgarise something so sacred in order to incite hate against a religion/ a man is disgusting to say the least https://t.co/FqR2m6N9XD
— u (@vincentsadgogh) February 6, 2022
Its blowing after making prayers & is a gesture of passing blessings for the salvation of the departed soul, as per Muslim rituals. मगर तुम्हारा संघी दिमाग़ ये ले नहीं पाएगा। But going by the amount of hate content u put up & never miss out on promoting enmity, थूके तुम जाओगे ।। https://t.co/FH3j4u3fEf
— MARIA KHAN (@iamariakhan) February 6, 2022
And everyone is spitting on @beingarun28 on his replies and quote tweet https://t.co/SbNipc1sQK
— Ashraful Hussain (@AshrafulMLA) February 6, 2022
Lata Mangeshkar was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai on Sunday, February 6. Mangeshkar, whose voice stirred millions of hearts every day and who will forever be counted as one of India's greats with an estimated 25,000 songs in an almost eight-decade career, died in Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital on Sunday morning due to multiple organ failure.
Politicians, film stars and the many thousands whose lives she had touched with her music paid their last respects to her. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also in Shivaji Park to pay tribute to the singer whose name was written into legend long before she took her last breath. Also present were Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, MNS supremo Raj Thackeray and actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.
Earlier in the afternoon, as a flower-bedecked cortege went from her Peddar Road home to Shivaji Park, surging crowds of mourners walked along, many thousands lined the 10-kilometre route and millions tuned into their screens, to say goodbye to the woman who had been an integral part of their lives and to fuse into memory a moment in contemporary history.
The government announced a two-day "state mourning" for the playback singer, who had a prodigious career in not just Hindi and Marathi but in more than 30 other Indian languages, and across classical and other genres. The national flag will fly at half mast from February 6 to February 7 throughout India. There will also be no official entertainment in this period.
With PTI inputs