Kamal Ghorui
Around 40 students from a gurukul school in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district have expressed disappointment after comedian-actor Rajpal Yadav did not meet or respond to them — despite their earlier gesture of sending him money collected from their pocket savings while he was in jail.According to authorities of Gurukul Seva Trust, the students had filled a piggy bank with money saved from their daily pocket expenses and sent it by post to Yadav’s ancestral village address in Kundra on February 21 as a token of support. Along with the savings, the children had enclosed an emotional letter expressing their wish to meet him after his release.In a 29-second video that has now gone viral, the children can be heard saying, “Namaste Rajpal bhaiya, we have learnt that you have returned home after being released from jail. Congratulations to you. We all want to meet you and know whether you received the help we sent. If you did, why did you not respond to our letter? We are upset with you.”They further added that even if he could not meet them in person, he could have at least spoken to them to reassure them.
“I will definitely meet them, hug them and take photographs”
Responding to the video while speaking to PTI over the phone, Rajpal Yadav said he had only recently returned home and had not yet had the opportunity to properly spend time with his family.“As far as meeting the children is concerned, I was told they were from an orphanage. In my view, if children have an ashram, they are not orphans,” he said.When informed that the children were from a gurukul school, the actor clarified, “I am a person who believes in the guru tradition, and all those children are my own. I will definitely meet them, hug them and take photographs with them.”He also mentioned that he was in the process of gathering details about those who had extended help to him during his legal troubles.
Loan case linked to Ata Pata Lapata
Yadav, who hails from Shahjahanpur and is known for his comic roles in Hindi cinema, had taken a loan of Rs 5 crore in 2010 from Murli Projects Private Limited for his film Ata Pata Lapata. He was later sent to jail after failing to repay the loan.It was during that period that the students decided to send their small savings as a gesture of emotional support, school chairman Kumar Sagar told PTI, adding that some additional amount was also contributed before dispatching the piggy bank. Now, with the video circulating widely, the children await what they hope will be a warm meeting with the actor they supported during a difficult chapter of his life.
