Mawara Tahir
Riots and protests are happening in India on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and therefore the National Register of Citizens (NRC) leading to violence, torture and large casualties in Delhi. Leading Bollywood stars including Deepika Padukone have showed solidarity by visiting JNU asa protest to the controversial bills been passed by the assembly.
But, surprisingly, the Bachchans, the Khans and the Kapoors are all silent and have not issued any statement to condemn the government’s move to discriminate against Muslims. Actors Farhan Akhtar, Sushant Singh, Swara Bhaskar, Rahul Bose, Javed Jaffery, Saeed Mirza, Suhasini Mulay and Huma Qureshi joined the protest against the CAA and NRC. But people were expecting the Bachchans, Khans, and Kumars, of Bollywood to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people in an effort to save the original DNA of the nation, but instead they became the target of not breaking their silence and supporting the protests.
Director Anubhav Sinha has also expressed his disappointment with the three Khans over their silence on the new citizenship law that triggered widespread protests in India.The Citizenship Amendment Act attracted intense criticism for being discriminatory towards the country’s 200+ million Muslims. 21 protestors have since then died within the protests, reported Al Jazeera.While the bulk of Indians are rallying behind Muslims, including Bollywood stars, there’s a deafening silence from the Khans, which Sinha, a staunch critic of Indian PM Modi’s nationalist government, highlighted. “I am really angry at anyone who has not spoken out,” Sinha told Reuters news agency.
Explicitly referring to the three Khans; Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, Sinha continued, “These three actors and their fan following is something else. One word from them can influence millions.”Those who have raised their concerns include Farhan Akhtar, Parineeti Chopra, Alia Bhatt, and Rajkummar Rao to Varun Dhawan, Sidhart Malhotra, Ayushmann Khurrana, Hritik Roshan and Vicky Kaushal. The violence and therefore the political storm raging around it’s posed a dilemma for a movie industry that’s dominated by Muslim actors, directors and crew but caters for India’s broader, predominantly Hindu population.There has been a social media outrage on the silence of Bollywood stars forcing them to break the ice.
Kangna Ranaut hits out at silence claiming that “Bollywood is filled with cowards and spineless people”.
Even though Shah Rukh is an alumnus of the Jamia-e-Millia Islamia University, yet he has not uttered a single word in support of his beleaguered alma mater. Students at the Jamia Millia University in Delhi, alma mater of Shah Rukh Khan, where the first protests erupted, almost feel betrayed.
“Someone like him staying silent is unacceptable,” said student Zoya Nadeem Azmi to Al Jazeera.
Let’s see who among the big guns breaks the ice first for being pushed to break their silence.
