Friday, July 26, 2019

And now, the counter!

61 celebrities have countered the letter sent earlier to the Prime Minister. The celebrities are Kangana Ranaut, Prasoon Joshi, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sonal Mansingh, Vivek Agnihotri, etc. 

They have written an open letter to point out the hypocrisy of the 'achievers' who wrote an open letter on 'rising intolerance', selective outrage and false narratives which demonstrated clear political bias and motive. Calling the letter as an attempt to foist a false narrative with an intention of denigrating the democratic ethos and norms of our collective functioning as a nation, the 61 undersigned say that their concern smacks of dishonesty and opportunism. 

An open letter which has been published on 23 Jul 2019 and addressed to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has astonished us. Forty nine self-styled guardians and conscience keepers  of the nation and of democratic values have once again expressed selective concern and demonstrated a clear political bias and motive.

To us, the undersigned, this document of selective outrage comes across as an attempt to foist a FALSE NARRATIVE with the intention of denigrating the democratic ethos and norms of our collective functioning as a nation and people. It is aimed at tarnishing India's international standing and to negatively portray Prime Minister Modi's untiring efforts to effectuate governance on the foundation of positive nationalism and humanism which is the core of INDIANNESS.

The signatories to the open letter have, in the past, kept silent when tribals and the marginalised have become victims of Naxal terror, they have kept silent when separatists have issued dictates to burn schools in Kashmir, they have kept silent when the demand for dismembering India, for making of her - Tukde Tukde - were made, they kept silent when slogans chanted by terrorists and terror groups were echoed in some leading university campuses in the country.

For the signatories, it seems the freedom, unity and integrity of India can be bartered away in the name of freedom of speech and expression. But for us, the unity, and integrity of India, her freedom is sacrosanct and anyone who questions these, who works to dilute or destroy these, who conspires to disturb these need to be resisted. Some of the signatories to the "open letter" have a record of acting as mouthpieces and idealogues for insurgents, separatists and terrorists in the past. Their concern, therefore, smacks of dishonesty and opportunism.

They have argued that "anti-government stands cannot be equated with anti-national sentiments", in fact under the Modi regime we see the maximum liberty to differ, to criticise and to abuse the government and the dispensation in power - the spirit of dissent has never been stronger. The Constitution of India certainly gives the right to dissent but not the right to try and break India apart.
To disguise the propensity for subversion by the name of dissent is a dangerous trait.

Prime Minister Modi has very succinctly put forward the mantra of his governance and that is SABKA SAATH, SABKA VIKAS and to that he has now included SABKA VISHVAS. Lynching is a social malady which has to be dealt up front, Prime Minister has spoken out against it repeatedly and the respective state governments are empowered to take action. We would urge everyone to give up being selective and condemn lynching, discrimination and desecration of religious places with equal vehemence when they occur. Instead of indulging in grand-standing, personalities with a social and public profile ought to generate greater awareness on the need to tackle and eliminate the mind-set that leads to lynching. 

Today the marginalised and the oppressed have been empowered like never before, not through the smoke-screen of hollow slogans and political claptrap but through creative schemes. The "open letter" comes across to us as an attempt to mock the mandate of the marginalised, to create a false sense of fear and siege and to try and derail India's march towards collective empowerment of all sections of society. It is clearly an attempt to defame the nation. WE DO CONDEMN the conspiracy.



Tailpiece.

It was a quiet day. In the evening, Sree kochachhan, Suma kunjamma, Kuttu, Vani, Nayana and li'l Sidharth - today was his 'annaprashna' at the Guruvayur temple - had dropped by for dinner. It was a nice mini family get together!


   

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