Letter to BS: Political system refusing to allow dissent becomes a tyranny

A letter signed by 49 celebrities was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the spike in attacks on Muslims, Dalits and other minorities

The letter penned by 49 celebrities to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the spike in attacks on Muslims, Dalits and other minorities and seeking his intervention to prevent their recurrence echoed the sentiment of all right-thinking people. 

No impartial observer of India’s political and social scene would refuse to concede the correctness of the statement made by the celebrities in their letter saying “Jai Shri Ram has become a provocative ‘war-cry’ today". In forcing non-Hindus to chant Jai Shri Ram, Hindutva zealots do not deify Ram, but defile his name. It is a cocktail of bigotry and impiety to force anyone