'Naseeruddin Shah is a great actor but his statement is highly irresponsible', says Ravi Shankar Prasad

"His acting in movies like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Mirza Ghalib is wonderful. He is an icon and as an icon his statement was very unfortunate,” Prasad said.

Ravi Shankar Prasad in ABP News' talk show Press Conference

New Delhi: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah is opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In an exclusive interview to ABP News, Prasad lauded Shah for his extraordinary acting skills but said that his recent statement about India being an unsafe country was highly irresponsible. Extolling the actor for some of his brilliant performances, the Minister for Information and Technology said: “His acting in movies like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Mirza Ghalib is wonderful. He is an icon and as an icon his statement was very unfortunate.” Recently Naseeruddin Shah stroked a controversy by saying that he fears for his children in India and also said that cow is given more importance in this country than humans. Prasad flat out said that Shah’s statement was highly irresponsible. He referred to Anupam Kher’s reaction to Shah’s statement and asked how much more freedom does one need in this country.

He said that the so called intellectual people come up with such statements right before elections and there is nothing new about it. A similar stunt of ‘Award Wapasi’ was pulled off ahead of the Bihar Legislative Assembly election, 2015. Shah straight-forwardly said that Shah should not have said what he said. “What does this mean  ...cow is more important that humans? 90 percent of people who come up with such statements are those who are opposed to Modi Ji and asked people to vote against him before 2014 elections. They are unhappy about Modi ji becoming the PM.” “Naseeruddin Shah is also opposed to the PM, not from now on, but since 2014, or even before that”, Prasad said. Just a week ago, expressing his concerns over dwindling law and order in the country where "death of a cow has more significance than that of a police officer", veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah on last Thursday said he's worried for children in today's India. Shah was referring the Bulandshahr violence in Uttar Pradesh where an inspector lost his life in a mob attack over alleged cow slaughter earlier this month. Full interview: