Salman Khan breaks silence on Saifai Mahotsav criticism

Actor Salman Khan was criticised by several political parties and his fans when he performed at the just concluded Saifai Mahotsav organised at Mulayam Singh Yadav’s native village Saifai, on Wednesday night.

The star was invited by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to perform at the mahotsav along with Madhuri Dixit, Ranveer Singh, Mallika Sherwat, Huma Qureshi and Ellie Avram. Music directors Sajid-Wajid also gave a performance at the event. Crores of rupees were spent at the event for which seven planes were chartered to bring the stars to Saifai and the SP government and the stars were accused of neglecting the riot victims at Muzaffarpur and only being concerned with promoting their film.

Following the criticism actor Salman Khan issued a press statement which read:

“Whenever I visit a place for a performance or a promotion, I see it as an opportunity to help the locals in the areas of healthcare or education. In Nagpur, on Sunday, Being Human pledged to fund 100 paediatric cardiac cases in Maharashtra State.

And in Etawah, Being Human, on behalf of all artists who performed yesterday, has committed to fund 200 paediatric heart surgeries in UP (there is already a wait list of 81 children we have received who are being moved to Fortis Hospital Gurgaon and their surgeries will get done by month end and Being Human is in touch with local NGOs and hospitals for their lists also).

We have also contributed Rs 25 lakh to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College & Hospital for the purchase of an Echo Machine, Pediatric & neo natal ventilator and a portable X-ray machine for their paediatric cardiac ICU.”