Subhash Ghai lashes at the Maharashtra government

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who faced problems recently when the courts held allotment of land to his film institute Whistling Woods illegal, said that he had no political connections. On April 4, the Supreme Court asked Ghai to return the land in Mumbai, measuring 20 acres, to the state, and also rapped the former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, saying he could not have treated anyone as the "blue-eyed boy".

PTI reported Ghai as saying, “I have no political connections. I am interested in imparting education, our focus is to spread knowledge, we are not part of politics or anything of that sort. I have no knowledge of what happens in the world of politics, I have no connections with it.”

Earlier, the High Court had said that Deshmukh, as Maharashtra Chief Minister, had "abused" his powers while allotting the land. About the next course of action, Ghai said, "I have the highest regard for judiciary, I respect the law. It is unfortunate that this thing happened with no fault of ours. I am sure a door will open. Whatever we did, was with honesty. We are sure that somewhere, somehow government will look into it, they will find out a way. I appeal to them to look into it." He also said that as per the court's order, the institute had enrolled students only till 2014.

When asked if he foresaw the controversy when he got the land in 2004, Ghai said, "I never imagined this problem. From our end, we were being honest. We were told by the Maharashtra Government that all formalities...legalities are in place." To make his point, he added that when a driving license is issued, "you don't ask if the concerned department has followed all formalities".