It's my right to seek land for imparting knowledge of dance: Hema Malini

Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hema Malini on Monday hit out at the Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali for describing her plans to start a dance academy on a plot of land in Mumbai's Andheri area as an attempt of "land-grabbing", and said that she had been struggling to obtain the land for the last 20 years as it was her right to impart her knowledge of dance to others.

"It has been a struggle for me for the last 20 years and I have asking for this land since then.As an artist, I too have a right to have an institute and impart this beautiful knowledge of dance to the children and it will be all free of cost," Malini told the press conference.

She also said that there should not be any objection to the institute which she would be establishing there as it would eventually become a pride for the area.

"I have to get everything organised now and I don't even know how much I have to pay. The land has not been given to me yet. I will pay everything according to the rules of the government," she added.

She also said that the institute is for the society, for the children and not for her personal use.

The Maharashtra Government allotted a 2,000-square-metre plot in the heart of Mumbai to BJP member Hema Malini, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and a Parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh.

RTI activist Galgali had earlier written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis questioning his leniency towards Hema Malini, after a land measuring 2000 sq metres in Mumbai's Oshiwara area valued in crores was allotted just for Rs 70,000.

"We have written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that on one hand the BMC is acting against all those who have acquired and misused BMC land illegally, and on the other hand the government is showing a lenient approach with Hema Malini," RTI activist Anil Galgali had said.

"The government has not given the land as per the Ready Reckoner Rate and that the rates of 1976, this has caused a huge loss to the government," he added.

He further said that this move of the government would boost the morale of the encroachers.