Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has called Bollywood actor Salman Khan "a man without brains", for tweeting in favour of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, who was hanged on 30 July.
"Salman is a man without brains, while his father is a respectable man. He does not read newspapers and does not know the law. Thus, he went on tweeting in Yakub's favour. Then there are people who sent letters to the President seeking mercy for the traitor. How can anybody question a Supreme Court order," Times of India quoted Raj Thackeray as saying.
Following the death sentence of Yakub Memon, like several others, Salman had also expressed his view in support of the convict on Twitter, asserting that Tiger Memon is the main culprit and Yakub Memon is being punished for his brother's sins.
Though he received supports from some ends, Salman was vehemently criticised by many others and his father Salim Khan also termed his tweets as "meaningless". Later, Salman retracted the tweets and also made an unconditional apology.
Addressing a gathering, Raj Thackeray also alleged that both the State and Central governments were willing to initiate a riot surrounding the Yakub Memon's case. "Yakub Memon was a terrorist but his hanging episode was converted into a drama by both the Centre and the State government. Looking into the events preceding and following the hanging of the traitor who killed so many people, I feel both governments only wanted riots to break out in the country," said the MNS Chief.
