“If the media and the State and the system feel that I have no right to own the
land, there’s a problem about it, they can have it. They are going to put me in jail. What are they going to get out of it? I will go to jail,” he told a television channel in an interview.“Finally, if they think I am guilty, what are they going to get? Imprisonment will not affect me as I will not contest elections or become a Chief Minister, Prime Minister or President.”
“I am just an actor,” asserted Mr. Bachchan.
Mr. Bachchan said:
“I had a certificate from the District Magistrate in Barabanki confirming that this land is mine. This certificate was required [for] the land that I was purchasing in Bhavna here in Maharashtra. I submitted that to [officials], they studied it and they gave me a possession document.
“Two or three years later, they suddenly said the certificate is wrong. How does anyone function in a situation like this? So every time there is a change of government, everything that has passed before, or any documentation that has been given to you as permission to continue doing your work, has to stop.”
He refuted allegations that he fudged records to prove he was a farmer so that he could buy land in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“I don’t like the way I am being accused. My job is to be in front of the camera and work in films. That’s the only job I know.”
Mr. Bachchan denied he was being targeted because of his association with Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh.
He pointed out that he was “hounded” for the Bofors scam even when his “friend” Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister.
“I’m happy that I fought, I’m happy that I cleared my name, I’m happy that I fought single-handed against the government and defeated them.”
Mr. Bachchan ruled out returning to politics, saying: “I am a misfit in politics. I don’t understand it; so it’s a closed chapter for me.”
Asked if he regretted doing a TV advertisement for the Samajwadi Party in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh polls that claimed the law and order situation there was better than in other States, he said: “I don’t regret it. It’s the Central Government that is convinced of the fact. Because I merely read what the Central Government report came out with. And recently, I read that in terms of crime rates, it is Delhi, which is the highest. No one talks about Nandigram, the firing in Hyderabad, why just look at one issue?”
Reacting to allegations that he was superstitious, he said: “Just because I go to temples, does it make me superstitious? I am a religious man. Whether I am superstitious or not is a very personal matter.”
On alleged differences between him and Shahrukh Khan, he said: “It’s a figment of the media’s imagination.” He went on to say Shahrukh was a better actor than his son Abhishek.
On the prison term for Sanjay Dutt, he said: “He is a very dear friend of mine. I was given a break by his father Sunil Dutt. I feel sad for him, but the law of the land has to be respected.” — PTI
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