Dia Mirza breaks silence on her controversial 'Anti-Holi' tweet

Mumbai: Actress-producer Dia Mirza has apologised after her tweet requesting people to celebrate dry Holi in wake of water shortage in Maharashtra invited backlash from different sections but said the crisis is a sad reality.

Dia said she did not have any intention to hurt any community and she just called for water conservation.

The controversial tweet read, "The irony of the times we live in: farmers commit suicide due to drought and people waste water to 'play' #Holi. Go ahead call me anti-Hindu."

Defending herself, Dia said in a statement, "As a citizen of India, I have an equal respect for all religions, festivals and customs that are celebrated in our country. It has never been my intention to hurt the sentiments of any individual or community. If in the event that my tweet has done so, I apologize unequivocally.

"That said, the fact remains that various parts of our country are experiencing a severe water shortage. According to a report I read in April last year, the drought in Maharashtra has hit over 90 lakh farmers and counting. In October last year, the Maharashtra government officially declared a 'drought-like condition' in 14,708 of the state's 43,000 villages," she said.

The 34-year-old 'Bobby Jasoos' producer said water conservation is the need of the hour and everyone should contribute to it.

"Water conservation is the absolute need of the hour and my request for us to indulge in a dry Holi was in keeping only with this sentiment of conservation and nothing else.

"We may not have all the solutions to the water scarcity problem or any other problem for that matter, but I believe that empathy for those most affected, acknowledging and understanding the challenges we face and taking the steps WE CAN as citizens, will only help," she said.