New Delhi: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan joined other Bollywood celebs like Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan in asking his fans to encourage Indian tourism amid a row over remarks by Maldivian ministers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lakshadweep.
Big B quoted Sehwag's X post in which the former cricketer had written, “Whether it be the beautiful beaches of Udupi, Paradise Beach in Pondi, Neil and Havelock in Andaman, and many other beautiful beaches throughout our country, there are so many unexplored places in Bharat which have so much potential with some infrastructure support. Bharat is known for converting all Aapda into Avsar, and this dig at our country and our Prime Minister by Maldives ministers is a great Avsar for Bharat to create just the necessary infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists and boost our economy. Please do name your favourite unexplored beautiful places.”
In his tweet, Aamitab Bachchan said Sehwag's comments were relevant and in "the right spirit of our land".
He wrote, “Viru paji .. this is so relevant and in the right spirit of our land .. our own are the very best .. I have been to Lakshadweep and Andamans and they are such astonishingly beautiful locations .. stunning waters beaches and the underwater experience is simply unbelievable .. हम भारत हैं , हम आत्मनिर्भर हैं , हमारी आत्मनिर्भरता पे आँच मत डालिये जय हिन्द @virendersehwag”
Meanwhile, the government of Maldives on Sunday suspended its three deputy ministers after their tweets criticising PM Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep.
Many other celebs on Monday took to X and tweeted with the hashtag 'Explore Indian Islands'.
Varun Dhawan wrote, "Seeing our honourable prime minister @narendramodi sir at the beaches in Lakshadweep makes me realise I've been missing out on our pristine beaches and water. Can't wait to book my next holiday.”
Ekta Kapoor wrote, “No more ‘mall’ !!! Time to dive into d ‘dweep’ #IndianTourism (sic)".
Comic-actor Vir Das, however, had a fun take on the controversy.
"Firstly, happy Lakshadweep is getting some love! Secondly, Somewhere in the Maldives, right now, is an Indian celebrity/influencer, who didn’t eat carbs for two weeks, took the best vacation photos ever, and is TERRIFIED to post them," Das wrote.
Modi was in Lakshadweep on January 2 and 3.