Bachchan turns down Australian doctorate

Amitabh Bachchan has reacted to racial attacks on Indian students in Australia by rejecting an honorary doctorate offered to him by the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane for his contribution to the world of entertainment.

The honour was to be conferred on the star in July as a part of celebrations to commemorate a retrospective of his films to be inaugurated in the city. I have been witnessing with great dismay and shock,the recent violent attacks on Indian students in Australia,on the electronic media the entire day, Bachchan wrote on his blog. I mean no disrespect to the Institution that honours me,but under the present circumstances,where citizens of my own country are subjected to such acts of inhuman horror,my conscience does not permit me to accept this decoration from a country that perpetrates such indignity to my fellow countrymen,” he added.