Bengal civil society seemed divided over the contents of “lynching” letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A parallel section of celebrities in Bengal have refused to side with the galaxy of intelligentsia who have written an open letter to the Prime Minister condemning lynching in the name of religion, caste etc.
Questioning the neutrality of some celebrities when it came to the BJP-led NDA Government film actor Locket Chatterjee, said a number of those who have written to the Prime Minister are politically prejudiced and should not be taken seriously. “Such letters are part of a political campaign,” Chatterjee, BJP MP and a known face in Bengal film and television world said adding “I know many of those who have written the letter. They are mostly politically biased.”
Backing Chatterjee’s contention another Bengali actor requesting anonymity said that the letter to the Prime Minister was more of a “political move to malign a government” than anything else. “Even if we consider that the cases of lynching have happened in some States … then what the Prime Minister has to do with that? These celebrities must have known that law and order is a State subject.”
A third Bengali actress who recently joined the BJP in Delhi said “lynching is bad but how do you prove that the BJP is behind it. And truth to be told you had cases of lynching in Bengal too in the past. What happened when 19 Anand Margis were publicly burnt to death at posh Ballygunge in Kolkata during the Left rule? Even during Mamata Banerjee’s rule we saw cases of lynching taking place. Is the BJP or the Prime Minister responsible for that?”
However, speaking to the media senior actor-director Aparna Sen said, “we have to watch with pain that how in a pluralist democracy like India people are still being lynched in the name of case and religion…
“So what if I do not chant Jai Shri Ram? So what if I do not shout Allah Ho Akbar? Does that mean that I am anti-India … I have the full liberty not to follow any religion. I have the full liberty to be an agnostic. But should that be a reason to be killed?” The letter written to the Prime Minister seeking his attention and demanding immediate action is signed by a host of intellectuals from film world to the field of history, literature and other arena. The letter has been signed by the likes of Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Shyam Bengal, Saumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sen, Kaushik Sen, Wriddhi Sen, doctor and activist Vinayak Sen and others.
“If someone calls me a Pakistani for not chanting Jai Shri Ram or for not backing a particular outfit then I am not ready to take that. By which stretch of imagination do I become an anti-national if I criticise the Government or a party running a Government? Are we goingmad?” Kaushik Sen asked pointing at how the Government was becomingintolerant. “Not only the cases of lynching or branding a person anti-national on a flimsy ground but also the legal reforms through the dilution of the RTI Act is a case point at an intolerant Government which must mend its ways,” he added.
