‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri arrived in Bhopal on Friday, a day after a viral clip of his triggered a row in which he could be heard saying “Bhopalis are assumed to be homosexuals”.
In the video clip of an interview to an online channel, the director could be heard saying in Hindi: “I have grown up in Bhopal, but I am not a Bhopali. Because Bhopali has a different connotation. You can ask any Bhopali. I will explain it to you in private. If someone says he is Bhopali, it generally means he is homosexual, a person with ‘Nawabi’ desires.”
Agnihotri arrived in Bhopal on Friday where he planted a sapling with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He also placed a demand before the Chief Minister to set up a ‘genocide’ museum to showcase the atrocities faced by the Kashmiri pandits.
Chouhan along with Agnihotri later addressed the media, but the director evaded questions on his “homosexual” remark.
Taking a dig at Chouhan and the ‘The Kashmir Files’ director, Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra said, “You (Chouhan) are our pride being the CM, and you also call yourself Bhopali. The comment of Vivek Agnihotri, who is planting saplings with you, has put us to shame, but you are smiling.”
Agnihotri is in Bhopal to attend the inaugural ceremony of the three-day Chitra Bharti Film Festival scheduled to be held on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, reacting to Agnihotri’s reamrk, Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh CM, Digvijaya Singh, tweeted: “Vivek Agnihotri ji, this could be your experience, but not that of the Bhopal citizens. I am also in contact with Bhopal and Bhopalis since 1977, but I never had this experience. Wherever you stay, there’s always an influence of the company you keep.”