Tamil group protests outside Salman Khan's home over Rajapaksa support
Mumbai: Tamil groups protested outside Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai today morning voicing their disapproval over the actor's decision to campaign for Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa. A group of people carrying pro-LTTE flags shouted slogans against the actor.
According the reports, the protestors were immediately detained by the police. It's not known whether the actor was present at his residence at the time of the protest. Several people took Twitter to update about the happening.
Protests outside #salman khan's house in Mumbai. Tamil group protesting against the actor. pic.twitter.com/vuAmhr33Ya
— Rohit Khilnani (@rohitkhilnani) January 4, 2015Salman recently visited Sri Lanka to endorse the Sri Lankan president ahead of a hotly contested presidential poll. Mahinda's son Namal Rajapaksa had invited Salman and Jacqueline Fernandez to participate in a health camp organised by the Sri Lankan ruling party’s youth wing. As the pictures went viral, Salman's visit drew a a lot of flak on social media. Many Sri Lankans even exhorted Salman to go back to India and was called a 'traitor' by Vaiko.
Beset by mass defections from his ruling coalition to the opposition challenger Maithripala Sirisena, Rajapaksa is believed to have suffered a loss of popular support. The Bollywood stars are expected to boost the sagging morale of the incumbent's campaign.
Khan is not the only Indian influence in the Rajapaksa campaign. It has been reported that Arvind Gupta, a BJP social media guru, is helping the incumbent in the social media side of the campaign.
The presidential election will take place on January 8 as Rajapaksa called the election two years ahead of schedule in an apparent attempt to seek fresh mandate before his party's popularity tumbles further, after dropping over 21 per cent in September local elections.
