Actor Akshay Kumar, who had a series of flops this year with Raksha Bandhan, Samrat Prithviraj and Bachchhan Paandey, were recently asked about his citizenship during an interview. Akshay is often trolled on the Internet for having Canadian citizenship, and this question is usually raised when Akshay promotes national causes. In a conversation with Lallantop, Akshay opened up about this and admitted that even though he holds Canadian citizenship, he pays his taxes in India.
Akshay stated that he “is an Indian, from India, and always will be”. He recalled that he had obtained his Canadian citizenship at a time when his films had stopped working and that he was considering moving to Canada. “A few years ago, my films weren’t working. About 14 to 15 films hadn’t worked, so I thought I should probably move somewhere else and work there,” he said.
Akshay said a friend of his lives in Canada and suggested that Akshay should also move there if he is not successful in India. “A lot of people settle there for work, but they are always Indians. So I also thought that if fate doesn’t support me here, then I should do something about it. I went there, applied for (citizenship) and got it,” he said. Akshay said that soon after he began to experience professional success again and decided to stay back. “Then I thought I would stay in my country, I never thought of moving again,” he recalls.
Akshay admitted that he holds a Canadian passport but pays his taxes in India. He said, “I have a passport. What is a passport? It is a document used to travel from one country to another. You see, I’m an Indian, I pay all my taxes and I pay them here. I have the choice to pay it there too, but I pay them in my country. I work in my country. Lots of people say things and they are allowed to. To them, I would just like to say that I am an Indian and always will be.
Akshay previously shared that he was in the process of applying for an Indian passport. Speaking at the 2019 Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, he said, “I have now applied for the passport. I am an Indian and it hurts me to be asked to prove it every time.
In 2019, Akshay shared a statement on Twitter where he spoke about his Canadian citizenship. At the time, he said: “I really don’t understand the unwarranted interest and negativity regarding my citizenship. I have never hidden or denied holding a Canadian passport. It is also true that I have not visited Canada in the past seven years. I work in India and pay all my taxes in India. While all these years I have never needed to prove my love for India to anyone, I find it disappointing that my citizenship issue is constantly embroiled in unnecessary controversy, a personal, legal, no political and without consequences for others. I would like to continue to contribute in my small scale to the causes I believe in and make India stronger and stronger.
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