Arpita Khan's Wedding Reception: Salman's Father Defends Narendra Modi's Absence

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's father Salim Khan has defended the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Arpita Khan's wedding reception on 21 November due to his busy political schedule.

Scriptwriter Salim Khan opened up on Modi skipping his daughter's wedding reception during an interview with a leading daily.

"I know Mr Modi much before he became the Prime Minister and we have a lot of respect for each other. Salman had gone to personally invite him and I had also spoken to him to invite him. Woh mera farz hai," The TOI quoted him as saying.

He said Modi promised to try his best to attend the event. "But I know that he has just taken the responsibility of the country in his hands and there is a lot that he needs to attend to. He returned from Australia only on November 20 and the function was on November 21, so he must have had so much to attend to. But it is my duty and my farz to invite him for all our family functions and I will always do," added the writer.

On 6 November, Salman personally visited Modi at his office in Delhi and invited the latter to attend his sister's marriage reception. Soon after their meeting, Modi took to his Facebook page to post a photo taken while they were together and wrote, "Met noted actor Salman Khan earlier today."

On 10 November, Modi left for his foreign trip and visited the countries including Myanmar, Australia and Fiji. In a 10-day-long tour, the Prime Minister met 38 world leaders in five summits and he tried his best in enhancing India's pride during the trip.

Soon after returning to India, he had to attend election campaign in Jammu & Kashmir and, hence, could not attend the reception.

However, newlyweds Arpita and Ayush Sharma had a grand reception in Mumbai on 21 November. The Khan family made lavish arrangements for the event, which witnessed the presence of many dignitaries from various fields including cinema, politics and business.