Filmmaker Bhushan Kumar on Wednesday denied attending the government's dinner at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai on Sunday. The invite was from Union Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP's National Vice President Baijayant 'Jay' Panda. At the trailer launch of Malang on January 6, when Bhushan Kumar was asked about the meeting on CAA, he dodged the question saying, ''I was in Grand Hyatt, so that does not mean that I was in a meeting or something.''
On January 6, BJP leader Tarun Rathi thanked producer Bhushan Kumar, along with other Bollywood celebrities, for attending the meeting with Piyush Goyal and Baijayant Panda.
शà¥ÂÂरी @itsBhushanKumar शà¥ÂÂरी #राजकà¥ÂÂमार_संतोषी,शà¥ÂÂरी #राहà¥ÂÂल_रवेल, शà¥ÂÂरी @RameshTaurani शà¥ÂÂरी @prasoonjoshi_ शà¥ÂÂरी @kunalkohli शà¥ÂÂरी @RoopkumarRathod शà¥ÂÂरी @gargankur शà¥ÂÂरी #अजय_चौधरी, शà¥ÂÂरी #मोहित_डागा, शà¥ÂÂरी #हिमांशà¥ÂÂ_सोनी, शà¥ÂÂरी #जय_वरà¥ÂÂमा, शà¥ÂÂरी #अनà¥ÂÂज_चौधरी, व सà¤à¥€ समà¥ÂÂमानित मितà¥ÂÂरों का आà¤à¤¾à¤°à¥¤ pic.twitter.com/orqpHZt7bM
— Tarun Rathi (@ITarunRathi) January 6, 2020
Among other celebs who attended the meeting included - Ritesh Sidhwani, Kunal Kohli, Rajkumar Santoshi, Anil Sharma, Ramesh Taurani, Rahul Rawail, Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi, singers Shaan and Kailash Kher, composer Anu Malik, and actors Ranvir Shorey and Urvashi Rautela. Bhushan Kumar's denial has surprised many.
There were other celebs who were invited for the meeting such as Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Richa Chadha, Kabir Khan and Karan Johar. However, they decided to give it a miss."The agenda of the meeting will be to facilitate a discussion on myths and realities pertaining to the Citizenship Amendment Act," read the invite from Goyal and Panda.
The meeting took place around the time mayhem erupted at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as masked attackers armed with sledgehammers and iron rods entered the campus and beat students and teachers.