Amitabh slams reports ‘twisting’ his words

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan hit back at media reports for allegedly misinterpreting his recent social media post and portraying it as a challenge to his opponents. The actor clarified that his reference to elephants, horses and a palanquin in an earlier post was part of a devotional chant dedicated to Lord Krishna, rather than a message directed at his critics.

On October 29, Big B had shared pictures and videos from his Sunday darshan and written in Hindi, "Now watch how they turn this into a headline!!!! Don't try to scare us, my friend. If you stop writing about us, that's no problem. We have our own newspaper running here now. You do one, and we'll do a hundred!!!! Go on! Bring your elephants and horses... We'll bring ours too – Haathi ghoda palki, Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki! (an elephant, a horse and a palanquin, glory to Lord Krishna!) ...!!!!"

On November 2, Big B took to his blog to criticise media reports for 'twisting his words' and portraying his earlier post as an 'open challenge' to his enemies. He wrote in Hindi, "In praise of Lord Krishna, people often chant the following prayer: 'Hathi ghoda palki, Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki (An elephant, a horse and a palanquin – glory to Lord Krishna!)' But the media has disrespected this devotional chant and, to promote itself, published headlines suggesting: 'Look, Amitabh is challenging his opponents, saying, 'Bring your elephants and horses; we will fight with our weapons and will not be afraid!'”

He called it a "gross insult" to a chant celebrating Jai Shri Krishna and added, "second, a deliberate twisting of words to make it seem as though I am challenging my opponents. Listen carefully, members of the media! We have a following of 50 million people. The day I give the signal, even just 10 per cent of them will be ready to take action. Our EF has the capacity to do a hundred times more than the criticism you direct at us by twisting our words. They are only waiting for me to give the word."