Mumbai: Many celebrities, artists and theatre personalities have against the brutal attack of Delhi police on students inside the library of Jamia University. They have expressed rage over allegations of growing intolerance and mob lynchings under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule in India.
#BollywoodKeBekaarBuddhe
Expectation. Reality pic.twitter.com/6MgHSa2JgP— mukarram🇵🇸 (@mukarram3) December 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/Siddiquii_says/status/1206857425527005184?s=20
Curiously, not a single signatory of the open letter was a Muslim superstar. This, in an industry whose reigning troika is Muslim– Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman Khan. The silence of the Khans is deafening.
The three have ruled Indians’ hearts and collective imaginations for over three decades with their tales of love, heroism, and justice. But now, Bollywood’s Khan-trinity has nothing to say. Indian society has been completely left to fend for itself in the face of unexplainable hate that has gripped an otherwise ‘ganga-jamni tehzeeb’-type national consciousness.
Real Heroes vs Fake heros#BollywoodKeBekaarBuddhe pic.twitter.com/N4ZVYlyLoV
— Shakeel.azn (@Aznshakil) December 17, 2019
This, in spite of people like the Khans who hold the kind of power and influence to appeal to peoples’ conscience. A shining example of this is how Islamophobia-related hate crimes lessened in Liverpool since soccer star Mohamed Salah joined the club.
So, why is it so hard for the three Khans to speak the obvious?
On 2 November 2015, Shah Rukh Khan said: “There is extreme intolerance. Intolerance religiously, not being secular in this country, is the worst kind of crime you can do as a patriot.”
Real Heroes vs Fake heros#BollywoodKeBekaarBuddhe pic.twitter.com/N4ZVYlyLoV
— Shakeel.azn (@Aznshakil) December 17, 2019
1. Actors above 50 who tweeted on Jamia protest
2. Actors above 50 who didn't tweeted on Jamia protest#BollywoodKeBekaarBuddhe pic.twitter.com/s0dNxWfTNJ
— Amandeep Pillania (@APillania) December 17, 2019
Roughly a month later, on 16 December, the same man said: “Sab kuch bahut acha hai humare desh mein. God Bless India, KOI PROBLEM NAHI HAI, aur mere saath kisi ne kuch intolerate(sic) nahi kiya hai.”
That’s pretty much all the thick skin the ‘Badshah’ of Bollywood had to tackle the trolling and abuse that came his way once he addressed the rising spate of hate crimes in India.
