Most Bollywood celebs condemn Pawar slapping

Mumbai, Nov 25 (IANS) Most Bollywood celebrities Friday condemned the incident in which Maharashtra political heavyweight and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by a youth to protest corruption and price rise.

While filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said it was no way to protest and actor Shabana Azmi asked if there was no room for sane debate left, director Shirish Kunder felt such action could keep corrupt politicians away.

Bollywood celebrities took to twitter to express their feelings about the incident in Delhi Thursday. This is what they said:

Shekhar Kapur: Slapping Minister Pawar is no way 2 protest, attacker needs 2 b in jail, bt silly of congress 2 blame BJP for incident.

Shabana Azmi: The assault on Sharad Pawar is to be condemned in the strongest terms possible. Is there no room for sane debate left?

Lata Mangeshkar: Namaskar! I am terribly disturbed today to see the assault on Shri Sharad Pawar. This is just not done! I have known Shri Pawar for decades now, very well, and I am deeply shocked and distressed to see all the visuals I saw on TV today, of him being assaulted.

Sharad Pawar has contributed a lot to the development and modernisation of Maharashtra for decades now and is a very senior and respected leader in the polity of India. It is sad that somebody should assault him this way. The perpetrator did not even consider Pawar sahab's age and health. I am very saddened. My family and I strongly condemn this assault on Pawar sahib.

Siddharth: Discussions about Pawar's slap expose once again that there is a natural tendency to condone violence in the name of justice...disturbing. In a similar pickle, will we ever stop publishing pictures of slain terrorists/nationalists/freedom fighters in pools of their own blood?

We might as well change the adage to 'it takes two cheeks to slap'...it never ends. You hit, i hit and so on! Nonsense.

Shirish Kunder: A slap a day, keeps the corrupt away.