New Delhi: Hitting out at Shah Rukh Khan, who travelled by train from Mumbai to Delhi to promote ‘Raees', BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said crowd will gather even if Dawood Ibrahim appeared in public and that it is not a barometer to gauge a star’s popularity.

The comment came a day after a 45-year-old man died of heart attack at Vadodara railway station, where a huge crowd had gathered to catch a glimpse of the superstar.


The deceased, Farheed Khan Pathan, a local politician from Vadodara, succumbed to a cardiac arrest after the crowd went ballistic on spotting the superstar. Farheed had come to see a relative of his, who was a journalist travelling in the same train.

Vijayvargiya lashed out at the actor and Raees promoters for not paying heed to public convenience, according to a report in The Indian Express. He said that common people will be affected if actors start promoting their movies on trains.

Read: It's extremely unfortunate: Shah Rukh on Vadodara mishap

The BJP general secretary also posted a photo on Twitter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi with a description comparing Raees to Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kaabil. Both films released this week.

Commenting on Gandhi’s torn kurta in the picture, Vijayvargiya’s tweet had a slogan “Kaabil ho toh chaiwallah bhi pradhan mantri ban sakta hai. Varna chandi ka chammach muh mein lekar paida hua Raees bhi fate kurta pehenta hai (Even a tea-seller can become the Prime Minister if he/she is capable. If not, even a rich man born with a silver spoon will have to wear a torn kurta).”

Accompanying the slogan, the politician had tweeted “Aur hamare Bharat ke kaabil kisi bhi pardes ke Raees se har haal mein behtar hai (Also under any circumstance, a competent person from India is better than a rich man from abroad),” punning on the words ‘Kaabil’ and ‘Raees.’

Read: SRK rides train to promote Raees , fan dies in commotion at Vadodara station

The politician had also posted a similar tweet on Saturday, playing around the words ‘Kaabil’ and ‘Raees’.

He had tweeted, “Pradhan mantri Modiji ne note-bandi-kar, kaale dhanwaale raeeson ko zameen par la diya. Ab baari desh ki kaabil janta ki hai, jo kaabil hai uska haq koi beimaan raees na cheen paaye (With the note-ban, Prime Minister Modi has brought the rich down to earth. Now, it’s the turn of capable people to ascertain that their rights are not snatched by the dishonest rich).”

Commenting on the tweets, BJP spokesperson Shania NC was quoted as saying that it was just word play and that Shah Rukh cannot be blamed for the death. BJP MP Manoj Tiwari was also reported as saying that Vijayvargiya’s tweets were often misinterpreted.

The actor termed the death ‘unfortunate’, saying that he’s saddened by it and his prayers are with the family of the deceased.

The actor had taken to the train to promote his upcoming film ‘Raaes,’ making intermittent stops across Gujarat, where the film is based in.

The crowd was so uncontrollably large that the police had to resort to lathi-charge to contain them. Cricketers Irfan and Yusuf Pathan had also been present at the station.