India-Maldives row: Amitabh Bachchan encourages people to explore Indian islands
India-Maldives row: Following derisive comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshadweep by some Maldivian political leaders, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan encouraged people to explore the beauty of Indian islands on Monday.
Big B responded to a post on X by former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag, writing, "Hum Bharat hai, Hum Aatmanirbhar hai, and do not harm our self-reliance."
"Viru paji .. this is so relevant and in the right spirit of our land .. our own is 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. We are India, we are Atmanirbhar, don't let anything blemish our Atma Nirbharta. Jai Hindi" Big B said.
Earlier on Sunday, Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag posted a photo with the caption, "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."
Celebs join ‘Visit Lakshadweep campaign'
Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut, John Abraham, and other Bollywood celebrities have joined the 'Visit Lakshadweep campaign' under the hashtag ExploreIndianIslands.
Ibrahim Shaheeb, the Maldives' envoy to India, was seen leaving the Ministry of External Affairs in the national capital's South Block on Monday morning.
This comes amid a controversy over derogatory social media comments made by some Maldives ministers about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Lakshadweep.
Last week, the Maldives' deputy minister, along with other cabinet members and government officials, made disparaging and derogatory remarks about PM Modi's visit to Lakshadweep.