Amitabh Bachchan Urges Fans To Explore Indian Islands Amid Lakshadweep-Maldives Row: 'Hum Aatmanirbhar Hai'

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan took to social media on Monday (January 8) to encourage people to explore the beauty of Indian islands. Several Bollywood celebrities have praised the marine life in Indian islands after Zahid Rameez, a council member of the Progressive Party of Maldives, mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshadweep, and said India would never be able to compete with Maldives in regards to tourism.

Amid the controversy, Big B reacted to a post shared by former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag on X.

Sharing several pictures, Sehwag wrote, "Whether it be the beautiful beaches of Udupi , Paradise Beach in Pondi, Neil and Havelock in Andaman, and many other beautiful beaches throughout our country, there are so many unexplored places in Bharat which have so much potential with some infrastructure support. Bharat is knowing for converting all Aapda into Avsar, and this dig at our country and our Prime Minister by Maldives ministers is a great Avsar for Bharat to create just the necessary infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists and boost our economy. Please do name your favourite unexplored beautiful places."

Reacting to his post, Amitabh Bachchan said, "Viru paji .. this is so relevant and in the right spirit of our land .. our own are the very best .. I have been to Lakshadweep and Andamans and they are such astonishingly beautiful locations .. stunning waters beaches and the underwater experience is simply unbelievable .. हम भारत हैं , हम आत्मनिर्भर हैं , हमारी आत्मनिर्भरता पे आँच मत डालिये जय हिन्द 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮? @virendersehwag."

Meanwhile, other Bollywood celebrities like Ranveer Singh, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut, John Abraham, and others have joined the 'visit Lakshadweep campaign' under the hashtag ExploreIndianIslands.

With this, they have urged their fans and social media followers to explore Indian islands.

PM Modi recently paid a visit to Lakshadweep, however, it was mocked by Maldivian political leaders, leading to a massive row. Several netizens on social media, including Bollywood celebrities, joined the call to boycott Maldives.

Reacting to PM Modi's visit, Maldivian leader Zahid Rameez had shared on X, "The move is great. However, the idea of competing with us is delusional. How can they provide the service we offer? How can they be so clean? The permanent smell in the rooms will be the biggest downfall."