Want my kids to get inspired by para athletes: Shah Rukh Khan
New Delhi, Sep 26 : Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who gave a warm send-off to Indian para athletes for the Asian Para Games 2018 on Wednesday, wants his children to take inspiration from the brave athletes.
"When I look at these athletes, I feel like I am doing so less in front of them. These para athletes are the true epitome of confidence and hard work.
"I want my kids (though AbRam is so young) to get inspired from these players and I want to make them learn how to be confident and how to keep up the spirit of working hard always," Shah Rukh said at the event here.
The 52-year-old actor revealed that a few months ago he wanted to "quit" everything.
"It was around August 15 or 16. I woke up in the morning... I felt like not going to work. I did not want to do more now. I wanted to cancel everything. I thought I have done so much, now I should stop everything and quit whatever I have been doing."
But he found inspiration in Para-athlete Deepa Malik, a discus star, and other such athlete's life stories which made him understand that life is not meant for giving up.
"I switched on the TV and all of a sudden, an interview of Deepa Malik flashed on the screen. I started watching it. When I watched her interview, she made me realise how wrong I was feeling about quitting everything," he said.
The occasion saw the presence of more than 190 para athletes including Deepa, the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and Para high jumper, Varun Bhatti.
As Shah Rukh's Meer Foundation has been associated with the Indian Para Olympic contingent, all the players were extremely happy with the actor's support.
Deepa felt having Shah Rukh's support will make people more aware about para athletes.
"Many people have no clue about us, but there are millions of people who follow Shah Rukh. So I believe through SRK's association with us, people will get to know about us also and follow us.
"Earlier, we all used to feel orphaned but now with support like this, we feel that we have a family out there," said Deepa, a mother of two girls.
Shah Rukh greeted the players and wished them luck. He also got a jersey with "Khan" written on it from Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) President Rao Inderjit Singh.
Asked if he wishes to have a team of para athletes, Shah Rukh, the owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders said: "Like we have Indian Premier League, I would love to see sport leagues comprising of nation's such strong para athletes.
"In future, if I get a chance, I will definitely get myself attached with a team of para athletes."
Shah Rukh also motivated the specially abled athletes with a few words of encouragement, saying: "We all are incomplete. Be it physically or emotionally or mentally, no one is complete in every aspect. Instead of feeling bad about it, we all should fight with our disabilities and make our life complete."
The Para Asian Games will be held at Jakarta in Indonesia from October 6-13.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
