Last month, singer Lucky Ali had criticised veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar for an old video which showed the latter making a remark about Hindus and Muslims. In the video, Akhtar had spoken about how Hindus should not become intolerant like radical Muslims. Ali noticed a tweet on the video which read, “Don’t become like Muslims. Make them like you. Don’t become like Muslims. It’s a tragedy. West Bengal Urdu Academy was right in withdrawing its invitation to this shameless bigot masquerading as a wise man.”

Reacting to this, the singer tweeted, “Don’t become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f**k.” He later issued a clarification and had written, “What I meant was that arrogance is ugly… it was a mistaken communiqué on my part… monsters may have feelings too and I apologise if I hurt anyone’s monstrosity.”

Now, in an interview with India Today.in, the 80-year-old lyricist sarcastically commented on Ali’s comments. "Now, I must take Lucky Ali's opinion with a pinch of salt. I should accept it. Although I don't agree with it. But anyway, I'm happy to know that he has opinions. That's wonderful," he said.

"If you are tolerant, it's good. If you are intolerant in certain matters, particularly which are sensitive, like religious matters, then it's not good. You have to be a tolerant person. You should... I mean, if you want to have one opinion, and you want to hear your opinion, then you should be able to take other people's opinion you may not agree with,” he added.

Akhtar also said, "But will you listen to only those opinions that are conducive, that are agreeable for you? You don't want any opposition? That's not fair. Whoever is doing it."