On Sunday millions of Indians in India and abroad held their breath as they rooted for the country’s brave daughters in anticipation of a history of sorts at Lord’s, where they faced England in the World Cup cricket final.
India played brilliantly but lost the opportunity to create history after they were defeated by the hosts by just nine runs.
Among those present in the stadium was Bollywood superstar, Akshay Kumar, who posted a tweet with the Indian tricolour while cheering for the women in blue.
His tweet said, ” #WomenInBlue we are rooting for you.”
https://twitter.com/akshaykumar/status/889126341991432193
However, the eagle-eyed among social media users were quick to highlight that the Khiladi actor was holding the national flag upside down. This, according to them, was an insult to the Indian tricolour.
Many took a potshot at the actor’s alleged Canadian nationality to make their point.
Sir, we respect Canada, please you also respect our flag, ulta mat lehrao. #INDvENG https://t.co/gqJ6O1Jhvo
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 (@RoflGandhi_) July 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/kamaalrkhan/status/889132852305993729
Before you criticize Akshay Kumar for holding the flag upside down & call him anti-national, give him BOD as he is a Canadian & not Indian! pic.twitter.com/fskZYD9VnS
— Gaurav Pandhi गौरव पांधी (@GauravPandhi) July 24, 2017
Many sought to draw a parallel with a similar incident involving Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, who was booked for ‘insulting’ the tricolour in 2012.
Khan’s crime was that he had carried the tricolour while celebrating the Indian cricket team’s historic win in the World Cup cricket in April 2011.
At first he was holding the flag correctly, with saffron colour being on top, but as he raised his hand and bent it backwards, the colour green went on top.
An overenthusiastic Lok Janshakti Party national secretary, Ravi Brahme, had approached the cops, who were nimble-footed to book the superstar for insulting the national flag.
“Shah Rukh Khan has been booked under sections of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The case was registered on August 14 and has been transferred to Mumbai police for further investigation. The case documents consist some photos and videos too,” a police officer had said.
What was even more interesting was that the complainant had approached the police based on a YouTube video he noticed 18 months after the original incident.
Now questions are being asked if the cops would take the same cognisance against Kumar and book him under Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.