AMN /
Unable to tolerate the Award Vapasi campaign by prominent writers , artists and scientists, actor Anupam Kher today led a march against them. He took the march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi to saying he was protesting against the voices being raised over intolerance in the country.
Kher said, the intolerance debate is an attempt to malign the image of the country and is intended to target the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Mr Kher, along with a delegation, met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
The memorandum was signed by 90 personalities including Kamal Haasan, Shekhar Kapur, Vidya Balan, Raveena Tandon and Vivek Oberoi besides authors, former judges and musicians.
The actor said, the intolerance debate is an attempt to malign the image of the country and is intended to target the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Mr Kher said no one has the right to call India intolerant and there is no country in the world, which is more tolerant than India.
He said people of the country are secular who do not believe in selective outrage.
In the evening, Anupam Kher alonwith the delegation of artists met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Talking to reporters, Mr Kher said that Mr Modi listened to them and said, the intolerance issue is harming the country and its reputation.
Mr Kher also said that protesting filmmakers and writers should approach Prime Minister over the issue and not to await the government to contact.
With support of Madhur Bhandarkar, Malini Awasthi and many of other artists, the march was flagged off from National Museum at Janpath.
“Nobody has the right to call our country intolerant. We are secular people and don’t believe in selective outrage,” Mr Kher said this morning.
“I have right to go to the President and say that we don’t feel India is intolerant. These talks can’t happen only on twitter/ Facebook, they need a personal presence,” the actor has said.
Dubbing the march as a “campaign for truth”, Mr Kher earlier shared on Twitter: “This #AwardWapsiGang has not insulted the government, but the jury, the chairman of the jury and the audience who watched their films.”