Salman and Madhuri fight off Saifai slur

Actors Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit on Thursday defended their performance at the muchcriticised Saifai Mahotsav as an exercise in charity.

The two were among a host stars, including newbies Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh, who took the stage at Saifai on Wednesday, the event's concluding night.

Salman's participation at the 15th Saifai Mahotsav had provoked outrage among his fans, some of whom even threatened to boycott his upcoming release Jai Ho . But in a Facebook post on Thursday, the actor said there was deeper reason behind his participation at the event.

Whenever I visit a place for a performance or a promotion, I see it as an opportunity to help the locals in the areas of healthcare or education," he said.


And in Etawah, Being Human, behalf of all artistes who performed yesterday, has committed fund 200 paediatric heart surgeries... We have also contributed 25 lakh to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital for the purchase of an echo machine, paediatric and neo- natal ventilator and a portable X- ray machine for their paediatric cardiac ICU," Salman, 48, added.

Madhuri, 46, on the other hand, defended herself on Twitter.

As artistes and celebrities, we believe in using our reach to help others through drawing attention to the needs of the day," she said.

Saifai, a village in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district, is the home turf of Samajwadi Party SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav his son Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief Minister of the state.

The Saifai Mahotsav is an annual affair conducted by the SP with much fanfare. However, its latest edition has drawn widespread criticism for the ostentatious display of revelry and wealth amid the unaddressed plight of thousands of refugees driven from their homes in last year's riots.

While many riot victims have reportedly been evicted from the relief camps without being adequately recompensed, others continue to languish in the filthy camps without proper medical facilities or protection against the dipping mercury. By the government's own admission, at least 34 children have died at the camps that have been pitched among open sewers.