Two days after several artistes wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing regret that Jai Shri Ram has become a war cry, a Kerala BJP leader on Thursday urged filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, one of the signatories to the letter, to move to another planet or the Moon if he cannot bear the Jai Shri Ram call. In the letter to the Prime Minister, artistes from across the country stated, “Ram is sacred for the majority community, stop defiling the name of Ram.” Referring to the recent cases of lynching, the letter stated, “The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions.” Senior BJP leader and party spokesperson B Gopalakrishnan said in a Facebook post that if Adoor cannot bear the call, he should change his name and move to another planet. “Raman and Krishnan are one and the same. This is the month of Ramayana (as per Malayalam calendar). The Jai Sree Ram call will ring loud in India and neighbouring countries. It would always be heard. If Adoor cannot tolerate hearing Jai Sree Ram, he can register his name at Sriharikota and move to the Moon.” The BJP leader said that if necessary, the Jai Shri Ram call would be raised in front of Adoor's house. “This is a democratic right. If such a call cannot be made in India, where else it would be possible,” he asked. The BJP leader questioned Adoor's silence during the state police action against devotees in Sabarimala last year. "Now you are reacting against Jai Shree Ram because you haven't got anything from the central government,'' he said. Reacting to the BJP leader's comments, Adoor said every citizen should have the right to live and it is wrong to deny them that right. “The attack on minorities and the insult to them are not fitting for a democratic country. If the government fails to act, the country would slip into anarchy and then things would go out of control,” he said. Adoor said he has nothing to gain from the Central government. “As a director, I have got all the awards,” he said. Threatened for signing letter to PM over lynchings, says actor Actor Kaushik Sen, who is one of the celebrities to sign the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of lynching, on Thursday said he had received a threat call. On Wednesday night, Sen told reporters that he had received a call from an unknown number, hours after the news about the letter was broken. “Yesterday I received a call from an unknown number. The person on the other end threatened me of dire consequences if I don’t stop raising my voice against lynchings and intolerance. I was told that I would be killed if I don’t mend my ways. To be honest, I am not bothered about such calls. I have also informed other signatories about the call and forwarded them the number,” Sen told reporters. The actor informed that he has lodged a complaint with the police regarding this. A senior police officer of Kolkata Police said, “We have received the complaint and we are looking into it.” As many as 49 celebrities from Indian film industry and other fields, including Sen, wrote an open letter to the PM over incidents of lynching in the country and highlighted that Jai Shri Ram has become a “provocative war-cry” across the country. In the letter dated July 23, the celebrities also said people should not be branded as “anti-nationals” or “urban naxals” for voicing dissent. (ENS/Kolkata)
