The celebrities include film directors Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap
Celebrities have written to PM Modi on Jai Shri Ram becoming a war cry
They have also expressed concerns on lynchings and hate crime
WEB DESK
In an open letter, they have raised concern over incidents of lynching. Such incidents “must be stopped immediately,” reads the letter.
Forty-nine eminent personalities including filmmaker Aparna Sen and historian Ramachandra Guha have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, drawing his attention to “a number of tragic events” recently, including incidents of lynching, and the alleged weaponisation of the slogan “Jai Shri Ram” into a “war cry”.
“Dear Prime Minister… The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions,” said the letter also signed by actor Aparna Sen and historian Ramachandra Guha, among others.
“You have criticised such lynchings in parliament Mr Prime Minister, but that is not enough… We strongly feel that such offences should be declared non-bailable…” the letter said.
At a press conference, Aparna Sen again condemned lynchings and said this has nothing to do with politics. “The lynchings of minorities is wrong. It is not about party or politics. Our letter has no political colour. We just want him (PM Modi) to intervene.”
She went on to say that her concern is not lynchings of people from any particular community but the lynching of human beings irrespective of religion.
“Human lynching is our concern. Our objection is against lynchings be it against Muslims or Hindus,” Ms Sen said.
PM Modi had in June condemned in parliament the lynching of a 24-year-old man in Jharkhand, and asserted that whether it is Jharkhand, or West Bengal or Kerala, incidents of violence should be treated in the same manner and perpetrators of violence get a lesson that the entire country is one on this issue.
“Regrettably ‘Jai Shri Ram’ has become a provocative ‘war-cry’ today that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name. It is shocking that so much violence should be perpetrated in the name of religion! These are not the Middle Ages! The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest Executive of this country, you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner,” the letter said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The open letter by 49 intellectuals and celebrities to PM. <a href="https://t.co/PaVOULdYVN">pic.twitter.com/PaVOULdYVN</a></p>— Optimistic-pessimism (@Hoimee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hoimee/status/1154246566216994816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>