Salman Khan a man without brains, says Raj Thackeray on tweets over Yakub Memon

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray on Monday slammed longtime friend and Bollywood actor Salman Khan and called him a man without brains. The remarks came after Khan tweeted in favour of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon ahead of his execution on July 30.

Thackeray said, "Salman is a man without brains, while his father is a respectable man. He does not read newspapers and does not know the law and thus went on tweeting in his (Yakub's) favour. Then there are people who sent letters to the President seeking mercy for the traitor. How can anybody question a Supreme Court order?"

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the execution of Memon, Thackeray alleged that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and state wanted "riots to break out in the country".

"Yakub Memon was a terrorist but his hanging episode was converted into a drama by both the Centre and the state government. Looking into the events preceding and following the hanging of this traitor who killed so many people, I feel that both governments only wanted riots to break out in the country," he said.

The 47-year-old firebrand leader was addressing a gathering of party supporters in adjoining Thane.

He alleged that the media was being fed with the details of Memon's activities ahead of the July 30 hanging and the journalists, too, enthusiastically lapped them up.

"On the day of Yakub's hanging, newspapers printed so many pictures of this traitor, while we could barely see photos of a nationalist like APJ Abdul Kalam (who was laid to rest on July 30)," he said.

The MNS president also trained his guns at Gujaratis living in Mumbai, saying they have gone "out of control" ever since Narendra Modi, who hails from the state, became Prime

Minister.

He took a dig at Gujaratis over their predominately vegetarian food habit, seeking to know how they can discriminate among people on the basis of what they eat?

Taking a jibe at Modi, Raj said the Prime Minister does not speak on anything, he just makes declarations. "His 'Mann Ki Baat' programme has turned into 'Moun Ki Baat'."

Raj hailed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's initiative to bring new industries in the state but insisted that Marathi youths be given employment in these units.

(With additional information from PTI)