Haridwar (Uttarakhand) [India], January 2 : BJP leader Sangeet Singh Som backed the remarks of spiritual leader Devkinandan Thakur and launched a sharp attack against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan over the inclusion of a Bangladeshi player in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team, calling him a "traitor."
"The way Hindus are being persecuted in Bangladesh, women and girls are being raped, their homes are being burned, and anti-India slogans are being chanted there. Despite all this, traitors like Shah Rukh Khan, I'm calling him a traitor because everything he has is given by India, given by the people of India, but where do they invest this money? They invest it in players from a country that is working against India," he told ANI on Thursday.
"I want to tell people like Shah Rukh Khan that they will not succeed. At any cost, they will not be able to get Mustafizur Rahman to play here. Rahman won't be able to step outside the airport... People like Shah Rukh Khan are traitors; they eat in India and sing praises of Pakistan and Bangladesh," he added.
Som's remarks came after Devkinandan Thakur criticised Shah Rukh Khan over the inclusion of a Bangladesh player in his co-owned KKR team for the IPL. He sent sharp comments against the Bollywood actor and the management of the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Speaking to ANI, Devkinandan Thakur stated that Hindus in Bangladesh were facing extreme atrocities.
"In Bangladesh, Hindus are being brutally murdered, their homes are being burned, and their sisters and daughters are being raped. After witnessing such brutal killings, how can someone be so heartless, especially someone who calls himself the owner of a team? How can he be so cruel as to include a cricketer from that very country in his team?"
Thakur referred to the KKR owner's background, saying, "This country made you a hero, a superstar, and gave you so much power that you own a cricket team. What were you before? You worked in a TV serial, earning Rs 500-1000 a day."
He further added that the Hindu community had supported him and questioned how that "debt" was being repaid.
He clarified that these remarks were not driven by personal animosity, saying, "I have never met Shah Rukh Khan. I don't know him. I've only seen his posters. I don't watch films. I don't do things that corrupt the character of the world."
He added, "I am a Hindu religious leader, and Hindus are being killed. Hindus are being killed in Bangladesh, and you have brought in a Bangladeshi cricketer in your team?"
This comes after tensions surrounding the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh have been heightened. Dipu Chandra Das, a worker in a garment factory in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges, had his body hanged and set on fire on December 18, 2025.
Meanwhile, another Hindu youth identified as Amrit Mondal was lynched at Hosendanga village of Kalimohor union in Rajbari's Pangsha sub-district over an extortion allegation. Many protests broke out across the country, calling for strict action against the neighbouring country.