Mumbai: More than 40 years ago Naseeruddin Shah had starred in a movie called Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai. Well it seems now that the veteran actor is really angry. Naseeruddin Shah has expressed concern and anger over the divide being created in India between Hindus and Muslims in the name of ‘love jihad’.
The 70-year-old actor made the comments in a video interview with ‘Karwan-e-Mohabbat India’. The video was shared on its YouTube channel Sunday.
“I am really furious with the way divisions are being created, like the love jihad tamasha in UP. First, the people who coined this phrase don’t know the meaning of the word jihad,” Shah said. “I don’t think that anyone would be so stupid to actually believe that Muslims will overtake the Hindu population, it is unimaginable. For that, Muslims will have to have so many babies. So, this whole notion is unreal,” asserted.
Last year in November, Uttar Pradesh became the first state in India to pass an ordinance against forcible or ‘dishonest’ religious conversions. In the last few months, states like Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have also followed suit. They have revealed plans to enact laws to counter alleged attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage. Political leaders often refer to it as ‘love jihad’.
The Bandish Bandits actor believes the term ‘love jihad’ stems from the idea of stigmatising inter-faith marriages. It is also being used to stop social interactions between Hindus and Muslims. “They not only want to discourage inter-faith marriages but also curtail social interactions between Hindus and Muslims,” Shah stated.
Shah is married to theatre-film actor Ratna Pathak Shah. He said he always believed that his marriage to a Hindu woman would set a ‘healthy precedent’.
“We have taught our children about every religion. But we have never told them that they belong to any particular religion. I always believed that these differences would slowly fade away. I believed that my marriage to a Hindu woman would set a healthy precedent. I don’t think this is wrong,” asserted Shah.
The actor said when he was about to tie the knot with the Ratna, his mother had asked if he would want his would-be wife to convert to his religion. Shah’s answer was no.
Shah said his mother was uneducated and was brought up in an orthodox household. However, she was completely against the idea of changing one’s religion.
“My mother who was uneducated, brought up in an orthodox household, prayed five times a day, observed Roza all her life, went for the Haj pilgrimage, she said, ‘The things that have been taught to you in your childhood how can that change? It is not right to change one’s religion’,” informed Shah.
The critically-acclaimed performer said he feels saddened to see the harassment young couples are facing. It is happening in the name of ‘love jihad’. “This is not the world I had dreamt of,” he pointed out.
Soon after an earlier interview was released online in 2018, the actor’s remark evoked outrage among some social media users. In the interview, Shah said he failed to understand the reason behind such an adverse reaction to his statement.
“All I had said was that the death of a cow had taken precedence over the death of a person and it makes me very angry. This was misinterpreted that I was expressing fear, when in fact I never used the word fear,” he asserted.
“I have repeatedly said that I am not afraid. I am angry. Why should I be afraid? I am in my own country; I am at my own home. Five generations of my family are buried in this land. My ancestors have been living here for the last three hundred years. If this doesn’t make me a Hindustani, then what does?” he asked.
