Hate is being manufactured: actor Naseerudhin Shan on prophet row
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New Delhi: As India is still on the defensive days after Nupur Sharma's comments on Prophet Muhammad, actor Naseeruddin Shah urged Prime Minister Modi to knock some good sense into "these" people.
The actor on Wednesday responded to NDTV that Prime Minister Modi should step into stop "the poison" of hatemongering happening.
After criticism poured in over Nupur Sharma's comments, India tried to diffused anger by blaming her comments on "fringe elements".
Naseeruddin Shah hit the nail on the head saying Nupur Sharma was no fringe element instead the national spokesperson for BJP.
Reacting to Nupur Sharma's argument that Hindu gods being insulted, he said couldn't recall any instance of a Muslim making inflammatory comment on a Hindu deity.
He said the death threats on Nupur Sharma should be condemned.
Referring to the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said India should not emulate the examples of these countries; he however said people are killed in India on the suspicion of slaughtering cow.
Blaming TV channels and social media for the situation, he said hate is manufactured as somebody confronting with an opposing view leading to spew venom.
The situation of hate had been building up for years, he said, adding that his parents' generation was responsible for it as they were used to jokes about somebody being Hindu or Muslim; even if that generation never fed hate, they nonetheless experienced Partition.
The hate had been brewing for a long time, he said, before it gradually got legitimized.
As for Bollywood observing silence on the issue, especially by the Khans, he said they have too much lose by speaking up and they could be considering it risky as well.
To another question regarding Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan's arrest and subsequent clearing of cases, he said it was nothing but a witch-hunt.
Shah is also quoted as saying that he is in fortunate position compared to a majority of Muslims in India getting marginalized. He said he never felt like being left out, and added that he is lucky to be in a position where he cannot be marginalised.
