Mumbai: Citizens, including writers, film makers, academicians, and social activists condemned Sunday’s vandalism at a suburban hotel and the prosecution of standup comedian Kunal Kamra for his jokes on former Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. In a joint statement, they called the vandalism an ‘urban terrorism attack’.
The statement said that the Constitution of India guarantees every citizen’s the right to freedom of speech and opinion and no citizen has the right to take the law in their hands and indulge in vandalism. Signatories to the statement said that the vandals lacked the intellectual ability to engage in dialogue and discussion with opposing views and opinions and also the ability to appreciate humour.
The statement was signed by Dr G G Parikh, veteran freedom fighter;
Tushar Gandhi, author and member Of Hum Bharat Ke Log; Anand Patwardhan,
Vaidehi Chitre, Samit Das Radhika Das and Chitra Palekar, filmmakers; Dr Achyut Vaze and Gourab Ghosh, educators; Dr Anagha Bhat Behere, Assistant Professor, Savitribai Phule University, social activists Feroze Mithiborwala, Guddi S L, and Faruk Mapkar of Hum Bharat Ke Log; Javed Anand of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy; Jerry Pinto, writer; Mujtaba Lokhandwala, scientist; Teesta Setalwad of Citizens For Justice and Peace; Dr Nikhil Rekha-Sanjay Adsule, IIT-Delhi; Dr Sunilam, president, Kisan Sangarsh Samiti; Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award winner; Dr Vinayak Joshi, pathologist, among others.
The signatories also urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has said that the administration will use bulldozers to ‘punish’ people accused of rioting, to ‘punish the vandals.
They also urged the citizens of India to urge the Police Commissioner to promptly take action against the members of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra who have taken the law in their own hands and are indulging in terrorising citizens and vandalising private property. We would like to remind the police that they have taken an oath to serve the constitution and protect citizens, not to obey and serve the government, the statement said.
We condemn the terror tactics displayed by members of the Shinde Sena who displayed their ‘bravery’ by vandalising property of a private hotel used by Kunal Kamra to shoot one of his shows in which he referred to the betrayal by DCM Shinde in his lust for power, the signatories added.
