Kangana Ranaut on Maldivian minister's remarks against PM Modi's Lakshadweep visit: 'Suffering from Muslim phobia...'

After Maldivian minister Zahid Rameez’s remarks against PM Modi’s Lakshadweep visit, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut took to X and shared a note, slamming him for his insensitive remarks. The actress wrote- “Suffering from massive Muslim phobia, even though belonging to the same community. Lakshadweep consists of 98 percent of Muslim population, this prominent public figure from Maldives calling them smelly and lowly is rather racist and uninformed.” She added, “Mr Zahid, Lakshadweep’s entire population is hardly 60 thousands people, which means it’s almost untouched, unexplored and unexploited natural island. For most people tourism is not just filthy luxury, it is rather exploration of nature, alignment with the source and above all experiencing and enjoying the raw, untouched beauty of virgin beaches. Shame on you for being so crass and vulgarly racist.”

Not only Kangana; even Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Shraddha Kapoor along with other prominent personalities on Sunday appealed to fans to “explore Indian islands” and coastal destinations, amid row over disparaging remarks by Maldivian ministers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lakshadweep. In social media posts, Kumar, cricketer Hardik Pandya and veteran player Venkatesh Prasad also urged people to support the Indian tourism sector as they condemned the comments by Maldivian ministers on X that have triggered a row with Internet users pitting Lakshadweep and Maldives as rival tourist destinations. Salman Khan  wrote- “It is so cool to see our Hon PM Narendrabhai Modi at the beautiful clean n stunning beaches of Lakshadweep, and the best part is that yeh hamare India mein hain.” Akshay Kumar – “Came across comments from prominent public figures from Maldives passing hateful and racist comments on Indians. Surprised that they are doing this to a country that sends them the maximum number of tourists. We are good to our neighbors but why should we tolerate such unprovoked hate? I’ve visited the Maldives many times and always praised it, but dignity first.”