Facebook took down pro-Diljit post: Naseeruddin Shah clarifies

New Delhi: Following the disappearance of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah‘s Facebook post, backing Diljjit Dosanjh in the ‘Sardaar Ji 3’ row, and backlash from the public for retreating from his stance by deleting the post, Shah reappeared, clarifying that he did not delete the post, but Facebook took it down from the platform.

On June 30, Shah posted, "I STAND FIRMLY WITH DILJIT. The dirty tricks deptt of Jumla Party has been awaiting a chance to attack him. They think they’ve got it at last. He was not responsible for the casting of the film, the director was,” appearing with strong support to Diljit. Diljit has been facing backlash for casting Pakistani actor Hania Aamir in ‘Sardaar Ji 3’.

After Facebook took down Shah’s post, it was widely assumed that he had deleted it.

Now, he wrote on The Indian Express how the post disappeared and reiterated that he stand by his statement, backing Diljit.

“If this is seen as a justification for my Facebook post (which was taken down, not deleted by me) in support of Diljit Dosanjh, so be it. But the truth is, I don’t need to justify anything. I said what I wanted to, and I stand by it,” he wrote in the TIE article.

Futher, he wrote, “I’m not disheartened by the lack of support, I wasn’t expecting any. Most have too much at stake, or simply don’t agree.”

Then he addressed trolls, “And to the trolls, particularly the one who said to me ‘Pakistan nahin ab kabristaan’, I can only quote Jigar Moradabadi: ‘Mujhe de na ghaiz mein dhamkiyaan, giren lakh baar ye bijliyan, / Meri saltanat yehi aashiyaan, meri milkiyat yehi chaar par’ (Don’t threaten me in anger, let lightning strike a thousand time/ My nest is my domain, these four feathers all I own).”