BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Film actor Raja Bundela has said Mahatma Gandhi and the revolutionaries believing in violence played an equal role in making India independent.

I don't think that India got independence in 2014, he added, when asked about film actor Kangana Ranaut's claim that India had attained freedom in 2014.

Bundela was speaking with the Free Press on the sidelines of a press conference at a hotel in the city on Monday. The event was organised in connection with the upcoming Khajuraho Film Festival.

When asked whether Kangnana would be attending the event he said, We wanted to invite Kangana but she was demanding Rs one crore, which was beyond our budget, he said. Bundela said that Mallika Sherawat and Govinda would be attending the fest.

The actor said that a new state of Bundelkhand should and will be carved out soon. He said that 'small states are good for the people', 'Before Independence, India had 565 princely states and the people were happier and more prosperous than they are now.

He said that the people want the Bundelkhand of the pre-Independence era back. He said that Mulayam Singh Yadav had opposed the creation of Uttarakhand and Lalu Prasad Yadav was against Jharkhand becoming a state. But the two states were formed and today they are on the path of progress, he said. Bundela said that both Haryana and Punjab had prospered after Haryana was carved out of Punjab. The GDP of both the states went up and the people were better off.

About the backwardness of the Bundelkhand region, he said that one rupee sent from Delhi for the development of Bundelkhand was reduced to 10-15 paise by the time it reached the region.

Bundela praised the Yogi Adityanath Government of Uttar Pradesh saying that the people are happy in the state and the land and the daughters were safe and secure.

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