December 22, 2018
Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher Sunday took on his contemporary Naseeruddin Shah for his comments on mob violence and asked him “how much more freedom do you need?”
Shah has found himself embroiled in a controversy over his remarks in reference to the killing of a policeman in mob violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district after cow carcasses were found earlier this month.
“There’s so much freedom in the country that you can abuse the army, badmouth the air chief and pelt stones at the soldiers. How much more freedom do you need in a country? He (Shah) said what he felt like, it doesn’t mean it’s the truth,” Kher was quoted as saying by ANI.
Speaking to Harsh Mander-led Karwan-e-Mohabbat earlier this week, Shah had said the death of a cow was being given importance over the killing of a person in the violence, while he also expressed concern over the well-being of his children, who, he said, have not been brought up as followers of any particular religion.
“The poison has already spread. It will be very difficult to capture this djinn back in the bottle. There is complete impunity for those who take law into their own hands. In many areas we are witnessing that the death of a cow has more significance than that of a police officer. I feel anxious thinking about my children. Because they don’t have a religion… tomorrow if a mob surrounds them and asks ‘are you a Hindu or a Muslim?’ they will have no answer. It worries me because I don’t see the situation improving anytime soon. These matters don’t scare me, they make me angry,” Shah had said.
On Friday, Shah wondered why he was being called a traitor for expressing concerns about the country he loves, even as protests by BJP Yuva Morcha members prevented him from inaugurating the Ajmer Literature Festival.
Source : The Indian Express
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