Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's campaign for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa got him in the bad books of some Tamil activists, who protested outside his house in Mumbai on Sunday.
Of the group of protestors gathered outside "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", the actor's home, and shouted slogans against him. About 15 people have been arrested as a precautionary effort on Sunday afternoon, reports IBN Live.
Salman, who had visited the island nation with "Kick" co-star and former Sri Lankan beauty queen Jacqueline Fernandez, is the first actor from India campaign for a politician in Sri Lanka. He was invited to participate in the election campaign by Rajapaksa's son Namal, according to Sri Lankan daily Asian Mirror.
Rajapaksa is believed to have suffered from loss of popular support in recent times and the presence of Bollywood stars in his campaign is expected to boost the sagging morale of his supporters before the presidential election on 8 January.
Rajapaksa's regime is accused of launching atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the final stages of the civil war against the LTTE in 2008, in which thousands of Tamilians died.
The protesters waved flags of the banned LTTE and held up pictures of its late commander V. Prabhakaran in front of the actor's home before they were removed by the police.
"We are doing this because he did not think about the 20 crore Tamils. In the 2009 war, around three lakh people died, he did not think about them. He went ahead to campaign for Rajapaksa along with his heroine Jacqueline Fernandez," an angry protestor told DNA.
Tamil Nadu's MDMK chief Vaiko called Salman a "betrayer" and DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan called his actions "higly condemnable".
"Indian fishermen were attacked by Sri Lankan Navy and at this stage Salman Khan going to Sri Lanka to campaign for Rajapaksa means he is not bothered about the Indian fishermen. This is highly condemnable," said Elangovan, according to NDTV.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan actor-turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake appealed to the 'Bhai of Bollywood' not to "sell" himself to "the corrupt politicians" and return to India.
