Open Letter to Javed Akhtar,
Mr Javed Akhtar, you are renowned for your excellent contribution to the film industry. Winning awards in different categories such as a screenwriter, lyricist or even as a poet, you have excelled in every field. However, recently there has been a lot of controversy and lot of debate on the issues of the film Padmavati, and one thing I have noticed from you is the abundance of hypocrisy, and selective targeting.
Seeing the controversy involving the film Padmavati, you thought it would be right to further spark the issue by commenting negatively on Rajputs. My question to you is that, if this was an issue related to your religion, would you have the guts to comment like that?
Oh, there was such incidence. Remember Sonu Nigam? No? let me politely remind you, Sonu Nigam belonging to the same industry as yours had a Radical Maulvi issuing a fatwa and with a Rs 10 Lakh prize money to whoever shaves his head. To maintain the misused word of secularism you thought it would be best to trigger more controversy in Padmavati and thought it would be best if you kept quite against the radical Imam. You only chose to say that prayers should not disturb anyone, but did not express your views about the Imam or his fatwa. Not that your opinion on Sonu Nigam bounty would have changed anything, but some sort of support was expected.
Moving on, remember Gurmehar Kaur and her so called stand of freedom of expression? No? Let me remind you. Sports personalities which have and continue to make India proud in various sports were called Illiterate by you. Their only fault was that they stood by their opinion which was different from your’s and stood by the Indian Army.
Now recently in Twitter, I came across a tweet of yours. In this tweet, it clearly shows that for someone to express their opinion, they have to prove fairness, by agreeing with you, and if they do not, then, they simply have no right to express their viewpoint. So much of freedom of expression advocated brilliantly by you. Also, this tweet was in response of someone who had questioned your silence in Sonu Nigam’s case. So where does secularism come from?
Finally, to conclude, don’t take this open letter, to be hateful of your views and thoughts. It is in fact an open letter, to show you a mirror of how your hypocrisy has grown. Hopefully you would understand, that instead of spreading negativity in the name of secularism and freedom of expression, you should think something positive.
Yours sincerely,
A responsible citizen of India,
Jai Hind!
