A plainclothes policeman tries to prevent NBA activists from entering the Prime Minister’s residence to submit a memorandum to him on Sunday. (PTI)

New Delhi, April 16 (PTI): Actor Aamir Khan today said the political parties in Gujarat were acting as bullies by stopping the screening of his latest film because of his support to the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Since Friday, when Aamir visited the Delhi venue of the NBA’s agitation against the raising of the Sardar Sarovar dam’s height, BJP workers have prevented many theatres in Gujarat from screening Rang De Basanti.

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, who also want the dam height raised, too, have forced some theatre owners in Vadodara and Rajkot to pull out the film.

“These are the political parties who promise to take us ahead; these are the political parties who promise to look after us; these are the political parties who promise to look after our poor and needy. They are using force, they are trying to bully (me),” Aamir told a television channel.

Aamir said he supported the project as it would provide water to four states, but he also wanted the government to rehabilitate those whose homes would be submerged.

He said it was very easy for a political party to gather a few hundred people to burn posters of his film or hit his face on the posters with shoes.

“The political parties in Gujarat are trying to protest against me.? I want the nation to watch this footage very carefully.? This is the way they operate.”

Aamir said he knew how badly the people of Kutch needed water. “I lived in Kutch for more than six months when I was shooting Lagaan. I have seen the water problem that the people of Kutch faced and I am sympathetic to their cause.

“(But) we have to see who are getting affected and the people who are affected are poor ? they are farmers, they feed us.... (Their rehabilitation) is the responsibility of the four (state) governments and of the central government.”

Referring to the screening of Rang De being stalled in Vadodara, BJP spokesperson Purushottam Rupala today said such an incident should not have happened. It was an emotional outburst, he added.

The BJP also disapproved of its workers ransacking the NBA’s Vadodara office yesterday. “I don’t think such a thing should have happened at all,” said general secretary Arun Jaitley.

The party, however, alleged that there were “serious complaints” against the NBA for trying to obstruct the rehabilitation of dam oustees.