Barely three days after an open letter was written by 49 celebrities to PM Modi expressing concern over mob lynching, 62 eminent personalities hit back, accusing them of “selective outrage, false narratives and a clear political bias” in an open letter. The authors of this new letter include Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, and classical dancer and Rajya Sabha member Sonal Mansingh.
The celebrities stood by their stance saying that, “The constitution guarantees us the right to express our concern about minority communities. We have mentioned certain facts and statistics about minorities and Dalits, based on reliable research, in a letter to our Prime Minister.”
The outrage ensued following an open letter written to the PM on 23 July by 49 celebrities voicing their concern over atrocities against the minorities.
“To us, the undersigned, this document of selective outrage comes across as an attempt to foist a FALSE NARRATIVE… to negatively portray Prime Minister Modi’s untiring efforts. The signatories of the ‘open letter’ have, in the past, kept silent when tribals and the marginalised have become victims of Naxal terror, they have kept silent when separatists have issued dictates to burn schools in Kashmir, they have kept silent when the demand for dismembering India were made…” the letter continued.
Signed by 49 eminent personalities in the open letter including Anurag Kashyap, Mani Ratnam, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anuradha Kapoor, Adoor Gopalkrishnan, others have requested PM Modi that lynching of Muslims, Dalits, other minorities must be stopped and strong action should be taken against the culprits
Titled ‘Against Selective Outrage & False Narratives,’ which voiced about 69 other eminent personalities including KangnaRanaut, Prasoon Joshi, Sonal Mansingh, Madhur Bhandarkar have expressed that these kind of mob lynching incidents only tarnish India’s international standing and portrays Prime Minister Modi’s untiring efforts to effectuate governance on foundations of positive nationalism and humanism in a negative way.
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The signatories to the new letter also attacked the 49 for criticising the government. The letter also stated that the signatories of the “Open Letter” have kept silent when tribals and the marginalised have become victims of Naxal terror. They kept silent when separatists have issued dictates to burn school in Kashmir. They were silent while slogans chanted by terrorists and terror groups were echoed in some leading university campuses in the country.
The letter, which encountered the Open Letter, have signatories like Grammy Award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Vivek Agnihotri, actor Pallavi Joshi, Manoj Joshi and others, included Madhur Bhandarkar, Prasoon Joshi and Kangna Ranawat and classical dance Sonal Man Singh.
