Sitaram Yechury has taken to Twitter to share an old video of prominent Bollywood personalities speaking against hatred and communalism. The clip begins with Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker saying that a lot of violence is being committed under the garb of religion. Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher and other celebs also echo this thought.
Amitabh Bachchan says, ‘A crime against one Indian is a crime against all Indians.”
At a time when the country is out on the streets protesting against CAA and NRC that discriminates on the basis of religion, the silence of most of Bollywood is being questioned. Sharing this video, Yechury wrote, “The message is enduring. As was in 2001, so it is today.”
Some A-listers of Bollywood like Deepika Padukone did condemn the attack on Jamia students by visiting the university and standing with them. However, she received a lot of backlash from social media for her stance.
Naseeruddin Shah also spoke about his views on why Bollywood chooses to remain ‘apolitical’ in an interview to The Wire. “As far as the established figures are considered, it’s understandable why they don’t speak up. One does wonder how much do they have to lose? Haven’t you made enough to last you seven generations? It’s like this line from Gibran - “Dread of thirst when your well is full; The thirst that is unquenchable.” It does seem to be like that. Loss of popularity, loss of revenue… will it kill you? The star is mainly concerned with themselves and not other people around, otherwise there would be more parity.”
As for Anupam Kher, he has been vocal about his support of the Government and its policies on Twitter.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)