Javed Akhtar has a message for PM, Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi

BHOPAL: Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar Thursday said he does not like either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah and maintained Congress president Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to become the next PM.

Referring to a remark of the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal, Pragya Singh Thakur, the lyricist said that he will suggest Modi to use her "curse" to get rid of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists.

"I do not like Modi and his assistant Amit Shah," he told reporters here when asked what qualities he likes in the Prime Minister.

However, he praised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and BJP veteran L K Advani.

Vajpayee was a different person, said the noted screenwriter, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.

He criticised the BJP for branding those who don't agree with its views as "anti-national".

"Our country's atmosphere stands vitiated today. The BJPs ideology is that if you are not with them then you are an anti-national," Akhtar said.

"No. I don't see him becoming prime minister," he said when asked whether he sees Gandhi as a prime ministerial candidate.

"We are not witnessing a presidential form of elections. In India, people choose their respective MP and not vote for just one name or face," he said.

The Bollywood veteran said he disapproves of Gandhi's slogan of `chowkidar chor hai' (the watchman is a thief), repeatedly hurled by him at Modi over the Rafale jet deal.

Akhtar said he was not aligned to the Congress now and will not be associated with the party in the future.

He said neither the BJP nor the Congress will get a majority in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and the next government would be a coalition.

Akhtar said he will suggest Modi to use the "curse" of Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Saeed and other terrorists to get them eliminated.

He was reacting to a query regarding Thakur's statement that she had "cursed" former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare following which he died. Thakur had later apologised for the statement.

Akhtar also said he was not averse to enacting a law banning the burqa if it was accompanied with a similar action against the 'ghunghat' system prevalent among women in Rajasthan. His comment came in the wake of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece urging the Modi government to emulate Sri Lanka in banning the burqa on grounds of national security.

"If you want to bring a law banning burqa here (in India) and if it is someones view I have no objection. But before the last phase of election in Rajasthan, this government should announce a ban on the practice of `ghunghat' (covering of the face by Hindu women) in that state," Akhtar told reporters.

"I feel that `ghunghat' should go and the burqa should go. I will be happy," he added.

Speaking further on the issue, the Bollywood veteran said, "Brother, I have little knowledge of the burqa as there were working women in my family and I haven't seen the practice at my home."

"Iraq is a very orthodox Muslim country but the women there do not cover their faces. The law in Sri Lanka (now), too, forbids face cover," said the celebrated screenwriter, a Padma Bhushan awardee.

In the editorial in party mouthpiece `Saamana', the Sena had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's footsteps and ban the burqa and other face-covering garments in India considering the "threat" they pose to the nations security.

Sri Lanka's decision came in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks in the island nation that killed over 250 people.

As the editorial created a flutter and drew sharp reaction from various quarters, a senior Sena leader said the editorial was not the official stand of the party, which is an ally of the BJP.