My daughter has won medals for India, what has he done? Saina Nehwal's father tears into actor Siddharth
Actor Siddharth, famous for his role in Bollywood flick Rang De Basanti, found himself embroiled in a huge controversy over a tweet he posted for Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal. While Siddharth has been heavily criticised over his 'derogatory' tweet, Saina's father has also hit out at the actor.
In a chat with Times Now, Harvir Singh Nehwal (Saina's father) slammed the actor for the nature of tweet he made for his daughter. Harvir Singh even said that while Saina has won medals for India on the badminton court, what was the actor's contribution to the country? “I felt very bad when he used such words for my daughter. What has he done for the country? She has won medals, brought laurels for India,” he said in a telephonic conversation with Times Now.“I’ve always believed India is a great society and Saina has the support of journalists and sporting fraternity because they know how much struggle a sportsperson goes through,” he added.
The National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma has also written to Maharashtra DGP requesting them to file a case on Siddharth. Saina's father welcomed the call by NCW, saying he is “happy NCW has taken cognisance and apology is basic what Siddharth needs to do. I don’t even know the actor - heard about him for the first time yesterday.”
The controversy erupted when Siddharth had criticised Saina over her tweet questioning how secure the Prime Minister of the country was. Saina's tweet was in reference to the security lapse that PM Modi had complained about over his recent visit to Punjab.
"Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India. Shame on you #Rihanna", Siddharth had tweeted in reaction to Saina's post which had read: "No nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists." Saina has since received the backing of many. Even the former Minister of Sports, Kiren Rijiju, defended Saina, calling her a 'steadfast patriot' other than being an Olympic medallist. "India is proud of @NSaina for her outstanding contributions in making India a sporting powerhouse. She is a steadfast patriot besides being an Olympic medalist. Making a cheap comment on such an icon personality depicts a person's ignoble mentality," he tweeted.
Saina, later, had even said that she liked Siddharth as an actor but he could've used better words to express his opinion.