A wheelchair user in Guwahati was called a Pakistani for not standing up during the national anthem before a movie at a multiplex last week.
Disability rights activist Arman Ali had taken his nieces and nephew to watch ‘Lucknow Central’ on 28 September when, at the end of the national anthem, he heard someone say, “saamne ek Pakistani baitha hai (There is a Pakistani sitting in the front).”
When he turned back, he saw two men sitting with smug looks on their faces.
Ali took to Facebook to narrate the incident.
Executive Director of Shishu Sarothi, an NGO for differently-abled people, Ali said that he did his best by sitting upright during the anthem. He added that movie halls seemed to have become battlefields where people fight to prove their nationalism.
'Will Write to the Chief Justice of India'
Ali didn’t take up the issue with the multiplex authorities, instead, he told ANI, that he will write to the Chief Justice of India about it. “I don't think SC would've thought of a situation like this,” Ali said.
In November last year, the Supreme Court had made it mandatory for cinema halls to play the national anthem before each screening. The order had not made any exemptions for differently-abled people, and hence had left many questioning it.
However, in April, this year, the apex court exempted differently-abled people from standing up during the anthem.
Earlier this year, the Union Home Ministry had also issued guidelines on how differently-abled people can show respect to the anthem by “maintaining the maximum possible alertness physically”.
According to a report by NDTV, Ali said he had a similar experience last year when he went to watch Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal. He said that he stayed out of the hall until the film started.
Ali told NDTV that he feels the practice of playing the National Anthem before a movie doesn’t make one patriotic and it should be done away with. He said that such comments make others feel vulnerable.
In the past few years, many people have faced such incidents in cinema halls. In October 2016, poet Salil Chaturvedi, who is also a wheelchair user, was assaulted for not standing up for the anthem by a couple standing behind him in a movie hall in Goa.
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