New Delhi, May 18: Bollywood and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee have come out in support of superstar Shah Rukh Khan after he was banned from the Wankhede Stadium for five years following a scuffle with MCA officials.
 The 46-year-old actor and co-owner of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders ( KKR) said that he lost his cool when he saw MCA officials manhandling his daughter and other children.
 B-town was all praises for the actor and took to Twitter to say that his action was justified.
 Director and friend Karan Johar said, “SRK is one of the best fathers I know and protective about every child. He was being just that, a protective parent!!! Why blame a man who was just reacting as a father... who wouldn’t have done the same in his place?”
 Actress and new mother Celina Jaitley said, “Speaking even as a new mother of twins, when it comes to one’s children a parent will go to any length to protect them, SRK is a good dad. When it comes to my children I would go to any lengths to protect them, he was being a dad at that moment... are stars not human?”
 “Kahaani” director Sujoy Ghosh also voiced his support for SRK, saying, “Read about the SRK incident. I think @iamsrk was very decent about the whole thing. I’d have ripped their heads off if it was my daughter (sic).”
 Director Anurag Basu said, “SRK’s behaviour is completely justified, I’d have smashed their heads if it was my daughter.”
 Music composer-singer Vishal Dadlani tweeted, “Straight up. Touch my family, I destroy you. No question. SRK was right.”
 “I’ve got first hand reports of the fracas with @iamsrk. His daughter was touched and shoved. He protected. Well done Dad!! At Wankhede, SRK was a father, not just an actor... Please don’t expect a father to apologise for protecting his baby.. Satyamev Jayate (sic),” TV actor Ronit Roy tweeted.

MAMATA CALLS FOR RECONSIDERATION OF BAN ON SRK
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday called for reconsideration of the decision to ban Shah Rukh Khan, who is the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders and brand ambassador of West Bengal, from entering the Wankhede Stadium for five years.
 “I will appeal please reconsider the decision,” Mamata said when reporters sought her reaction on the decision of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
 “We love Maharashtra, capital of India’s business. We love Shah Rukh, Sachin, everybody. Shah Rukh is our brand ambassador and that is why you are asking me the question.”
 “I do not know whether it will be proper for me to comment anything about the incident. I do not want to interfere about other states’ business.”
 “I request you not to distort my saying - whatever I am saying. It is a sensitive issue,” Banerjee said.

IPL SHOULD BE CLOSED: LALU
 With the Indian Premier League hit by controversies, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday demanded that the tournament should be closed down.
 “IPL should be closed,” he told reporters outside Parliament House when asked to react on the spat between Shah Rukh Khan and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials and other controversies surrounding the game.
 On the Shah Rukh Khan episode, he alleged that the policemen, who were present when the scuffle broke out between the Bollywood star and MCA officials, were working at the behest of certain political parties.
 “All this was done in hatred,” Yadav alleged.

WANKHEDE EPISODE SAD BUT NOT RIGHT FOR GOVT TO INTERFERE: SALMAN KHURSHID
Law minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said the Wankhede brawl involving actor Shah Rukh Khan was “sad” but it is not right for the government to interfere in every matter.
 “These are very sad developments in our society. Clashes between citizens and authorities are always very sad things,” he told reporters outside Parliament.
 On whether government should interfere in the matter, Khurshid said, “It is not right that government should interfere on every matter. I cannot comment on Shah Rukh incident because the authorities concerned should do something about it. The matter is not before us when it will come we will definitely take it seriously.”
 Khurshid, however, supported the media role in the whole episode saying media has the right to show this to public as “part of democracy”.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 IST