संजय एक अच्छे इंसान, हेमा मालिनी

Bollywood actor and Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini on Wednesday sympathized with colleague Sanjay Dutt for being debarred from contesting elections. Her reaction came contrary to feelings expressed by state unit of the BJP one day ahead of her visit. "I know that he is a good man just like his father Sunil Dutt. He had good chances of winning the Lucknow seat if he contested. It is a different matter that he went to jail earlier and was found unfit to contest under present laws," said Malini. She was talking to reporters in Ranchi before setting out to campaign in four districts of the state. "Since Sanjay Dutt represents Bollywood the apex court verdict will not go down well with other silver screen artistes," she added. Earlier on Tuesday state BJP spokesperson Sanjay Seth had welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict. He said it was a historical judgment that indicated electoral reforms to prevent criminalization of politics are well in place. Hema also emphasized the role of young politicians in national politics. "Encouraging children to join politics is a must. I always encourage my daughters to taken interest in politics otherwise very soon the entire system will be handled by outdated and unfit people," she said adding, "Rahul Gandhi is a good and promising youth politician." Refusing to comment Varun Gandhi being booked under the National Security Act she said, "His speech was immature and indicates his political immaturity. I am sure that he failed to express his feelings properly and this is mainly because of lack of experience. Once he matures in politics he will be able to handle such issues better". On being asked if she would prefer contesting instead of just campaigning for the party Hema said, "I am not prepared to handle responsibilities of a large constituency. I don't want to contest polls and take additional responsibility when I am aware that I cannot deliver my 100 per cent because of other engagements. I am an artiste first and by campaigning in favour of a national party I am trying to contribute to society what I have gained as a Bollywood actor". Hema, however, negated role of sportspersons like Dhoni to fray into politics. "Let him play cricket and earn laurels for the country instead of deviating his energy into politics. He is doing best in his role as captain and we should not distract him from that," Hema said