Poet and lyricist Manoj Muntashir shared a video on social media on Tuesday which has been criticised by several people including Bollywood celebrities like filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan, writer Hussain Haidry, and actor Richa Chadha.
In the video, captioned, “Choose Your Legacy And Your Heros!” Muntashir dubs Mughal rulers like Akbar, Humayun, and Jehangir ‘glorified dacoits’, and questions if everyone has been “brainwashed” into glorifying Mughals.
Writer Vaibhav Vishal tweeted, “The man who made a career out of Ishq, Khalish, Mehfooz, Fariyaad, Humsafar and Rashqe Kamar questions our Indo-Islamic legacy, and our education, values and choices,” adding, “Good to see the mask coming off, Manoj. Remove the word “Muntashir” from your name now. Choose your legacy!”
Neeraj Ghaywan called out Manoj Muntashir’s tweet as, “Bigotry laced with casteism!”
Actor Richa Chadha wrote under Ghaywan’s tweet, “Cringe. Bad poetry, unwatchable. Should drop the pen name too. Why profit off of something you so hate.” Journalist Abhishek Baxi wrote, “For a writer/poet, I'd expect better bigotry. This looks like a crowdsourced effort from a WhatsApp group.”
A Twitter user wrote in Hindi, “Ma’am there is no bigotry in this. Calling Mughals wrong isn’t calling Islam wrong,” to which Richa responded, “Haan, maine toh jaane teen saal laga kar University mai itihaas kyu padha. Jab WhatsApp University bewakoofi ko badhaawa deta hai, kyu BOT? (Yes, I don’t know why I studied history in University for three years when WhatsApp University promotes stupidity for free, right BOT?)”
In response to Muntashir’s video, writer Hussain Haidry wrote, “Not the first time he's spreading hate or lies, and it will not be the last time. Mask has been off since well over a year. This is not an out of the blue video. Khair, sarkaar aur samaaj ne punish karne ke bajaay incentivise kiya hua hai anti-Muslim zahar ugalna. So ugal raha. (Anyway, government and society has incentivised anti-Muslim hate instead of punishing it, so he’s spouting it)”
In his video, Muntashir asks, “Ravana was a Brahmin, born into Lord Brahma’s direct bloodline but have you ever seen a Brahmin worshipping Ravana?”
Journalist Saurabh Shukla responded to the video and wrote, “Ravana is worshiped in many places, what you’re saying can be your point of view, I understand that you had to choose a side, you have chosen one. I hope you will explain the present along with history. I hope you will also talk about the present day Ravanas who beat up bangle sellers and beggars who are Muslim.”
Here are some other reactions:
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