It’s only been a few days since more than a hundred film personnel including the likes of Vetrimaaran, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan & documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan, came together with a statement to vote the BJP out. And now, 616 theatre artists have signed off on a statement that urges the public to not vote for ‘BJP & its allies’. The signatories include veterans like Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Mita Vashisht, Vinay Pathak and Konkona Sen Sharma among many others.
The statement touches upon the community of theatre artists, that has acted like a mirror to society. Theatre has been the place where social evils have been addressed, and as the statement reads – ‘we (theatre artists) have struck a blow at patriarchy, Brahmanism and caste oppression’. Further adding that the ‘idea of India is under threat’, the statement called for this breeding of hate to stop.
“The BJP, which came to power five years ago with the promise of development, has given free rein to Hindutva goons to indulge in the politics of hate and violence. The man who was portrayed as the saviour of the nation five years ago has destroyed the livelihoods of millions through his policies. He promised to bring back black money; instead, rogues have looted the country and run away. The wealth of the rich has grown astronomically, while the poor have become even poorer.”
This comes shortly after a collective of nearly 200 scientists came together to appeal to the public to ‘reject those who lynch, assault or discriminate against people on the basis of religion, caste, gender, language’ and those who empower such behaviour. They also requested the public to remember ‘our constitutional commitment to scientific temper’, possibly an indication towards the Indian Science Congress held only a few months back, that was laughed off for going to preposterous lengths to integrate mythology and patriotism in scientific theories.
The theatre artists put up their entire statement on www.artistuniteindia.com – you can read it here.
You can read the entire statement by scientists over here.
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