Salman claims harassment at airport for not speaking Kannada

CThe triggering point was [when the immigration officer said], ‘If you don’t know Kannada, I can suspect you’. SALMAN YUSUFF KHAN, Choreographer-actor PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/SALMANYUSUFFKHAN

horeographer Salman Yusuff Khan, who had spoken about being harassed by an immigration officer at Bengaluru airport for not knowing Kannada, has in a follow-up video slammed those “bringing caste, creed, religion, and language” into the matter.

On Wednesday, the 37-year-old had shared a video on Instagram narrating that an immigration officer at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport persistently insisted that Khan converse in Kannada with the former, while the choreographer was on his way to Dubai. “[He] shows me my passport and points out my name and birthplace and my fathers name and birthplace and has the audacity to tell me that you and your father are born in Bangalore and you can’t speak Kannada [sic],” the ABCD: Anybody Can Dance (2013) and Street Dancer 3D (2020) actor wrote in the post.

In his latest video shared on Thursday, Khan lamented the way the incident was received by many. “It is being taken to a different tangent. When did I say that I don’t love Kannada or [that] I am against the language? I love my roots. I am a Bangalore boy,” said Khan, who had earlier shared that his lack of fluency in the language was owing to being brought up and receiving schooling in Saudi Arabia. “I got upset when that person brought my father in between, saying [my] father is from this place and so [am I], and I still don’t know Kannada,” he said, adding, “The triggering point was, ‘If you don’t know Kannada, I can suspect you’. Suspect me for what? After going through the hassle, the comments coming to the video just sadden me,” he added.