Mumbai: Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah says that he is worried for children in today’s India. He’s worried because he imagines a situation where his children may be surrounded by an angry mob and asked: “Are you Hindu or Muslim?”
“My children will have no answer,” Naseeruddin Shah says, “Because we chose not to give a religious education to our children.”
Naseeruddin Shah also says that there is a “poison” that has spread in the Indian society. “It will be very difficult to capture this [genie] back into the bottle.”
“There is complete impunity for those who take the law into their own hands,” Naseeruddin says. “We have already witnessed that the death of a cow has more significance [in today’s India] than that of a police officer.”
Naseeruddin was referring to the recent Bulandshahr violence in which a police officer was killed by a mob. The violence was sparked by the discovery of cow carcasses. The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested three people in connection with the alleged cow slaughter. The policeman’s killers remain free.
Naseeruddin Shah’s comments were put online by Karwan-e-Mohabbat India (Caravan of Love), a travelling activist collective that is focussed on highlight and combating instances of hate crimes and lynching.
“I was given a religious education…But Ratna [Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin’s wife] did not get any religious education…[And] we chose not to give a religious education to our children,” Naseeruddin says.
Naseeruddin adds that he believes “good and evil have nothing to do with religion” and so his children were not brought up in a religious environment.
“So I fear for my children…Because if a mob gathers around them and asks them are you a Hindu or Muslim, they will not have any answer…Because they have no religion,” Naseeruddin says, before signing off with: “I am angry and I believe every right-thinking man must be angry and must not fear.”