Gere faces ire for kissing Shilpa on stage

VARANASI: A day after Hollywood star Richard Gere planted kisses on the cheek of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness programme in New Delhi, widespread protests were witnessed in the holy city on Monday with Shilpa fans burning effigy of Gere.

Members of Shilpa Shetty Fan Club led by Iqbal took to the streets in Nai Sarak area raising anti-Gere slogans. They later burnt an effigy of the Hollywood star demanding that Gere either apologise for his indecent conduct or else leave the country immediately.

"Shilpa Shetty conquered all racial swipes to win the Big Brother reality game show in England, but the Hollywood actor by unnecessarily planting kisses on Shilpa's cheek has not only done disservice to AIDS campaign but also blemished the rich Indian culture," Iqbal said.

Activists of the Vande Mataram Sanghursh Samiti also followed suit by burning Gere's effigy near the Geeta Mandir at Godowlia.

Led by their convenor Anup Jaiswal, the activists of the voluntary organisation not only demanded that Gere leave India immediately, but also mocked Shilpa for not protesting the Hollywood star's indecent behaviour on stage.

Shiv Sena activists led by Gulshan Kapoor also set afire the Hollywood actor in effigy at Luxa crossing and demanded that he immediately leave the country.

Shiv Sena has also demanded arrest of the Hollywood actor for "hurting" the sentiments of Indians by publicly kissing Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.

Delhi Shiv Sena chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal said that Gere should be arrested immediately for his kissing act with Shetty at a function on AIDS awareness here on Sunday, which has led to widespread protests from several quarters.

Giving a memorandum to Delhi's Police Commissioner in this regard, Goyal also demanded police action against Gere, Shetty and the organisers of the function.

"It is an attack on our cultural ethos. Our culture does not permit public display of such acts," he said.

The 'Pretty Woman' fame actor had planted kisses on Shilpa's cheeks at 'Seena Tan Ke,' an AIDS awareness programme for truckers in New Delhi on Sunday evening.

She has also said that the media should focus on AIDS-related issues rather than Richard Gere's kisses. 

In the midst of the attack, Shetty got support from noted Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who dubbed the protestors as fundamentalists.

Nasreen told reporters in Bhopal that since the Bollywood actress was at ease with the incident nobody has the right to challenge her freedom.

"Who are those staging the protest? Are they the cultural police? This is democracy... Everybody has the right to express themselves," Nasreen said.