Mumbai: Irked by a social media user who asked him if Shia and Sunni were different religions, veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday said all kinds of religious people were "equally unreasonable".
He made the comment as part of a chain of tweets after the social media user asked Akhtar: "Is Shia and Sunni different religions Javed Akhtar? #JustAsking."
The celebrated writer, who is quite vocal about his views on socio-political issues, said: "Your question about Shia and Sunni reminds me of a very famous dialogue from a film 'Gone With The Wind'. And it was, 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn'."
Journalist Arnab Goswami joined the conversation by questioning Akhtar: "But where is the answer!"
Akhtar wrote: "It is for them to decide whether they are from the same religion or not. Doesn't interest me. So what if they are and so what if they are not. I believe all kind of religious people are equally unreasonable. Is that clear enough Arnabji or the nation still wants to know something."
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New Delhi (PTI): Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman Bibek Debroy passed away this morning, a senior EAC-PM official said.
He was admitted to AIIMS.
Debroy (69) was educated in Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur; Presidency College, Kolkata; Delhi School of Economics; and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He had worked in Presidency College, Kolkata; Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; and also as the Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms.
He was also a Member of NITI Aayog up to June 5, 2019. He has authored/edited several books, papers and popular articles and has also been a Consulting/Contributing Editor with several newspapers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Debroy's passing and called him a "towering scholar".
"Dr Bibek Debroy ji was a towering scholar, well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, spirituality and more. Through his works, he left an indelible mark on India's intellectual landscape. Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth," he said in a post on X.
He also shared a picture of himself with Debroy.