More of us will speak every day: Cultural community condemns FIR against celebs who wrote to PM
Team Udayavani, Oct 8, 2019, 1:40 PM IST
Mumbai: Over 180 members of the cultural community, including actor Naseeruddin Shah, cinematographer Anand Pradhan, historian Romila Thapar and activist Harsh Mander among others, condemned the FIR lodged against 49 celebrities for an open letter they wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last week, an FIR was filed in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur against personalities, including directors Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and writer-columnist Ramchandra Guha for alleged sedition over a letter they wrote to the PM in July, voicing concern over growing incidents of mob lynching.
In new letter issued on Monday, October 7, the eminent personalities questioned how writing an open letter to the prime minister could be called “an act of sedition”.
“An FIR has been lodged against forty-nine of our colleagues in the cultural community, simply because they performed their duty as respected members of civil society. They wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, expressing concern about mob lynching in our country.
“Can this be called an act of sedition? Or is harassment by misusing the courts a ploy to silence citizens’ voices?” the letter read.
The signatories, which also included writers Ashok Vajpeyi and Jerry Pinto, academician Ira Bhaskar, poet Jeet Thayil, author Shamsul Islam, musician TM Krishna and filmmaker-activist Saba Dewan, promised they will continue to speak up against silencing of “people’s voices”.
“All of us, as members of the Indian cultural community, as citizens of conscience, condemn such harassment. We do more: we endorse every word of the letter our colleagues wrote to the Prime Minister.
“This is why we share their letter here once again, and appeal to the cultural, academic and legal communities to do the same. This is why more of us will speak every day. Against mob lynching. Against the silencing of people’s voices. Against the misuse of courts to harass citizens,” the letter added.
The FIR was lodged on October 3 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace.
The 49 personalities, including filmmakers Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, actor Soumitra Chatterjee and vocalist Shubha Mudgal, were accused of having “tarnished the image of the country and undermined the impressive performance of the prime minister”, besides “supporting secessionist tendencies”.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Stars of Kannada film industry descend to cast votes for LS polls
Restored version of Shyam Benegal’s ‘Manthan’ to premiere at Cannes Film Festival
IPL streaming on betting app: Maharashtra cyber cell summons actor Tamannaah Bhatia
Amitabh Bachchan receives Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar
Vijay Deverakonda, Mrunal Thakur’s ‘The Family Star’ to make OTT debut on Prime Video
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Patanjali Foods to evaluate proposal to buy Patanjali Ayurved’s non-food business
Congress to discuss candidates for Amethi, Raebareli seats on Saturday
BJP’s CT Ravi Booked for Promoting Hatred and Enmity Through Social Media Post
Elections held in 14 LS segments in Karnataka, voter turnout nearly 64 per cent till 5 pm
‘PM is scared, may even shed tears on stage’: Rahul Gandhi’s fresh salvo at Modi