Nasihat to Naseer?

Living in India a democratic country, do we really have a right to speak? Today, I went to attend the Ajmer Literature Festival where veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah was supposed to be a chief guest. When I went there what I found was, volunteers of BJP Youva Morcha protesting against the arrival of Shah in Ajmer.

This whole controversy broke out when in a recent interview Naseeruddin Shah gave harsh statements on the current condition of the country. In a video released on social media he told how a cow is given more importance than a life of a cop referring to the Bulandshahr violence where a cop and a civil man died due to mob lynching on the issue of cow slaughter. He added by saying, how the current conditions of the society make him worry for his children. He indirectly targeted the ruling government as a poison and also criticised them for taking the law in their hand. In the interview he concluded by saying, these issues doesn’t scares him rather they make him angry. This is not the first time a controversy has broke on a statement given by a Bollywood actor. Two years ago, Aamir  Khan too lighted the issue by saying, he and his wife fears of living in India now.

Before the arrival of Shah the protesters gathered and shouted slogans asking Shah to move to Pakistan. They burnt the posters and inked shah’s face black. The thing which surprised me the most was, there was not a single cop to organise the protest movement. The arrangements were poor, inviting the protesters to make complete chaos of the event. During the protest gave various irrelevant statements where they mentioned how actresses goes nude in front of the camera and doesn’t feel shy but feel shy of living in India. Veteran actress Hema Malini is already a Rajya Sabha MP for the BJP, whereas the party is now planning to invite in Madhuri Dixit, another popular Bollywood actress. The most disturbing thing which could be sensed there was how the protesters took the whole issue from ‘Bharat Maa’ to ‘Raam’ making it sound all communal. In counter to this Naseeruddin Shah said as it is their right to protest, it is his right to express his views too. Statements of shah were highly appreciated by the other speakers of the festival.

This all creates a big question about, do we people really have a right to speak? Personally, I completely agree with the statement given by Shah. An issue of cow slaughter is never big than a life of a human being. Since everyone has got a right to present his/er views, therefore rather than opposing them we should respect their right and introspect on what wrong is going in our society. India is a democratic country. We should never tolerate fascism taking over democracy. Also one party should never be allowed to instigate communal issues in a diverse country like India. We were secular, we are secular and we have to fight every power making an effort to destroy the communal harmony of the nation.