Celebrities having Punjabi roots like actor Kapil Sharma, rapper Badshah and singer Guru Randhawa have come out in support of actor Akshay Kumar who has been summoned by the Special Investigation Team formed by the Punjab government in the 2015 sacrilege cases.
Earlier this week, the Punjab government had posted a tweet about the actor and others being summoned by the Special Investigation Team formed by the Punjab government to probe the 2015 sacrilege cases in Punjab.
The Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission, which was constituted by the ruling Congress government to probe incidents of desecration and police firing, had recorded a statement of a person who claimed that Akshay mediated in getting Akal Takht’s ‘pardon’ for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who was accused of blasphemy by appearing before a congregation while dressed as Guru Gobind Singh Sahib in 2007.
Akshay had termed the media reports as fictitious and denied ever meeting Gurmeet Ram Rahim. More importantly, the actor iterated that he could never do anything to hurt Punjabi sentiments.
Actor and TV host Kapil Sharma, singer Guru Randhawa and rapper Badshah have backed Akshay, stating that he is the pride of Punjab and he could never hurt Punjabi sentiments.
“@akshaykumar paji We believe u, we trust u n we can’t ignore ur contribution for cinema n ur continuous efforts to make our country better. Pls ignore these rumors. God bless https://u.love n regards always,” tweeted Sharma.
Rapper Badshah called Akshay the flagbearer of the Punjabi community.
“Paaji you are the flagbearer of the pride of punjabis. We love you and stand by you! @akshaykumar, tweeted Badshah.
Randhawa reminded his followers that the actor had worked for the welfare of all communities.
“@akshaykumar paji We believe u, we trust u n we can’t ignore ur contribution for cinema n ur continuous efforts to make our country better. Pls ignore these rumors. God bless https://u.love n regards always,” tweeted Randhawa.
Love you Paji ???? India supports you and knows you that you have contributed to every community and issues so nicely through your films. Punjab is proud to have to always ❤️ @akshaykumar https://t.co/zxAPZYCuNY
— Guru Randhawa (@GuruOfficial) November 12, 2018
Tensions flared in Punjab in 2015 after the first incident of sacrilege came to light in June at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in the Faridkot district. Then on 12 October, 110 pages of the Guru Granth sahib, the sacred book of the Sikhs, were desecrated in the Bagari village in Faridkot. Soon, more such incidents were reported throughout the state.
The Punjab police had initially suspected former Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his followers of the sacrilege incidents, but the police ruled this out later.