49 artists, intellectual and civil society members have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding immediate action against perpetrators of hate crimes and human rights violations.
The signatories to the letter include Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aparna Sen, Anurag Kashyap, Ashis Nandy, Binayak Sen, Ketan Mehta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Mani Ratnam, Revathy Asha, Ramchandra Guha, Ratnaboli Ray, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shyam Benegal, and many others.
The letter states statistics that show that Muslims, Dalits and various minorities have borne a disproportionate brunt of hate crimes, particularly lynchings and says, “The lynchings of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately.” It goes on to ask, “You have criticized such lynchings in Parliament Mr Prime Minister, but that is not enough! What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators?”
The letter takes the rise of religious polarization head on and says, “Regrettably ‘Jai Shree Ram’ has become a provocative ‘war-cry’ today that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name.” It goes on to state, “The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest executive of this country, you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner.”
The entire letter may be read here:
