In developments surrounding the intolerance debate now 61 personalities of the media and cinema industry have come forward and debunked all the claims made in the recent letter addressed to Prime Minister Modi by 49 individuals in a bid to draw his attention to “rising incidents of mob lynching”. 61 personalities include actor Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Classical Dancer and MP Sonal Mansingh, Instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar& Vivek Agnihotri wrote an open letter against ‘selective outrage and false narratives’.
The 61 personalities who have written an open letter against 'selective outrage and false narratives'. pic.twitter.com/Fdeac3KCri
— ANI (@ANI) July 26, 2019
Pointing out the skewed nature of the earlier intolerance letter, the recent letter by 61 personalities read, “To us, the undersigned, this document of selective outrage comes across as an attempt to foist a FALSE NARRATIVE with the intention of denigrating the democratic ethos and norms of our collective functioning as a nation and people.”
The letter further exposed the attempts behind the outrage letter to malign India’s image in the International community
“It is aimed at tarnishing India’s international standing and to negatively portray Prime Minister Modi’s untiring efforts to effectuate governance on the foundations of positive nationalism and humanism which is the core of INDIANNESS.”
Calling out the selective nature of the outrage and their silence over criminal incidents where identities of victims did not suit the agenda of the pseudo-liberal sect, the letter further read, “The signatories to 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, for making pieces of her -Tukde Tukde – were made, they kept silent when slogans chanted by terrorists and terror groups were echoed in some leading university campuses in the country.”
The letter on Wednesday, which quoted NCRB data blatantly attempted to paint these criminal incidents in communal colors, read, “254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between October 29, 2018 and January 1, 2009, where 91 persons were killed and 579 injured. The Citizen’s Religious Hate Crime watch recorded that Muslims, (14% of population) were the victims in 62% of cases, and Christians in 14% of cases.”
While the nation is already wary of these subversive tactics used by these selective outrages, condemnations from all quarters have been flowing against this seemingly politically motivated attempt. The letter which selectively chooses criminal incidents against certain communities and tries to paint them in communal colour is not the first but comes in a series of similar attempts.
However now this letter exposing the lingering hypocrisy and political agenda behind the ‘open outrage letter’ has also shut down all those who had claimed these 49 individuals to be representatives of the cinema and movie industry. This is the first time when Indian cinema industry has been seemingly divided into two groups one which has been trying to peddle selective agendas through ‘open outrage letters’ and one which has to come out and debunk these meek and vacuous claims which are dissociated from reality.
