New Delhi: An FIR has been registered against actor Kamal Haasanin Varanasi, a day after he had said in his column in a Tamil magazinethat right-wing Hindus have moved from engaging in debates to employing terrorism to propagate their agenda.

Haasan has been booked under Sections 500 (punishment for defamation), 511, 298 (hurting religious sentiment), 295-A (intend to outrage religious feelings), and 505-C (attempt to incite hatred enmity between classes) of the Indian Penal Code. The matter will be heard on Saturday.

Expectedly, Haasan's comment in the magazine set off an uproar from Hindutva forces as well as BJPleaders, who have damned him for such an accusation. While senior BJP leader, VinayKatiyar described the actor's mental state as "unstable", the party's general secretary, H Raja dubbed Kamal Haasan as a "supporter of terrorists".

"From his known stand of being an anti-Hindu, Kamal Haasan has now promoted himself as a supporter of terrorists. Nationalists' beware. During Viswaroopam crisis, certain Muslim outfits had commented that the (actor's) fear will not go away for another 20 years and it looks to be true. Attack on Hindus shameful," Raja tweeted.

Kamal Haasanhas also found support from Congress spokesperson and actor, Khushbu.

"Lynching, abusing, killing, threatening, harassing in the name of religion is a terror. Any religion... We see this now. N this needs to be stopped," she tweeted, without referring to either Kamal Haasan or the BJP.