The Hindu : Front Page : ``Attack on India's cultural ethos''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007
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``Attack on India's cultural ethos''

The Shiv Sena has described the act as an attack on India's cultural ethos

New Delhi/Mumbai: Hollywood star Richard Gere's kiss to actress Shilpa Shetty during an AIDS awareness programme evoked strong protests in several cities while Shiv Sena activists stormed her film shoot in Mumbai with protestors describing the act as an attack on India's cultural ethos.

Activists, mostly of Hindu outfits, in Varanasi, Bhopal, Kanpur, Indore, Delhi and Mumbai burnt effigies of Mr. Gere and Ms. Shetty to give vent to their anger , calling it indecent behaviour.

In the capital, Shiv Sena activists converged at Jantar Mantar to express their resentment over the act while in Varanasi, several Shiv Sena and Bande Mataram Sangharsh Samiti activists as well as Muslims took to the streets.

In Mumbai, over 50 Shiv Sena activists converged at the Vashi railway station in Navi Mumbai where the film Metro was being shot and burnt an effigy of Ms. Shetty and shouted slogans against her, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Ramrao Wagh said.

Photo: PTI

OPPOSITION: Shiv Sena activists protesting against Shilpa Shetty in New Delhi on Monday.

The protest did not take a violent turn and the situation was quickly brought under control with some activists being detained, he said.

Reacting to the controversy, Ms. Shetty said, "I understand this [kissing] is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such a manner. I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take back bad memories from here." The BJP disapproved of Mr. Gere's act asserting it was not part of Indian culture. "Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition," said party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.

There were also demands for an unconditional apology from Mr. Gere with the Shilpa Shetty fan club in Indore saying he had hurt the sentiments of the people of India.

Ms. Shetty, however, got support from noted Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who dubbed the protestors as fundamentalists. Ms. Nasreen told reporters in Bhopal that since the actress was at ease with the incident nobody has the right to challenge her freedom. "Who are those staging the protest? Are they the cultural police? This is a democracy... Everybody has the right to express themselves," Ms Nasreen said. Mr. Gere had repeatedly kissed Ms. Shetty on stage at function on Sunday night where Bollywood actor Sunny Deol and more than 4,000 truck drivers also participated in the campaign to create AIDS awareness. Ms. Shetty had grabbed the headlines early this year when racist comments against her from a fellow contestant of the celebrity show Big Brother was widely condemned by people. - PTI

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