Bachchan on Bofors, land purchase

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who fought a long legal battle to clear his name in the Rs 63 crore Bofors payoff deal, wondered how documents under one government could be correct, while the same set of documents under another government becomes invalid and illegal.

In an exclusive interview to Bhupinder Chaubey of CNN-IBN, Bachchan denied that he was suffering because of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and because United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi did not like Amar Singh.

"You are insisting that this is happening to me because of my association with Amarji. Why do you only relate it today. How would you explain the government hounding me for Bofors. At that time Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister and he was my friend. I'm happy that I fought. I'm happy that I cleared my name. I'm happy that I fought single handedly against the government and defeated them," he said in response to a question.
 
He defended his association with the Samajwadi party and said there was nothing wrong with the advertisement that he had done about the lowest crime rate in Uttar Pradesh. "This was a government of India record," he claimed.
 
Explaining that he required a certificate from the Barabanki official where he had purchased land as a farmer. "I had a certificate from the district magistrate in Barabanki confirming that the land is mine. This certificate was required as I was purchasing land in Bhavna, Maharashtra. I submitted that to them, they studied it and gave me a possesion document. Everything was fine. Two or three years later, they suddenly say that the certificate is wrong.

"How does anyone function in a situation like this. So everytime there is a change of government, everythng that has passed before or any documentation that has been given to you as permission to continue doing your work has to stop," he wondered.
 
He refuted the allegation that he has become superstious of late. "Just because I go to temples, does it make me superstitious? I am a religious man. Whether I am superstitious or not is a very personal matter," Bachachan said.
 
He rejected the allegation that there was some sort of rivalry between him and Shah Rukh Khan. "This is a figment of the imagition of the media," he said. 
 
"Sanjay (Dutt) is a very dear friend of mine. I was given a break by his father Sunil Dutt. I feel sad for him, but the law of the land has to be respected," he said while talking about the six years of imprisonment for Sanjay Dutt.