The off-the-cuff comments made by actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan made him a darling for the Pakistan media, which has been spewing venom on India after the surgical strikes by Indian armed forces on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan’s popular daily Dawn quoted Pawan Kalyan’s comments made at a public rally in Kadapa a couple of days ago that he was aware, two years ago itself, about the war-like situation between India and Pakistan before the general elections.
The power star went to the extent of saying that he had been told by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader two years ago about the possibility of the war before the elections.
"You can understand from this what kind of situation our country is in,” the Pakistan daily quoted Pawan as saying.
Obviously, Pawan’s comments lend credence to Pakistan media’s allegations that the BJP government led by Narendra Modi was deliberately escalating tensions at the borders to gain political mileage in the coming elections.
That is why Dawn has highlighted the comments of Pawan Kalyan who is little known to the people even in the North India, let alone Pakistan.
The article also quoted Pawan’s comments against the BJP that patriotism was not the BJP's right alone.
“We are 10 times more patriotic than them," he said.
The article noted as Pawan said, "Muslims have equal rights in India. I don't know what is the status of Hindus in Pakistan but India keeps Muslims in its heart. It made Azharuddin captain of its cricket team and Abdul Kalam President of the country."
Pawan gave a clarification on his comments on Thursday stating that he had only made a reference to what he had heard from a friend two years ago and that he had not learnt it from Pakistan. But that was not carried by Dawn in its article.
