A day after Kerala BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan asked filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan to go to the moon if he can’t tolerate ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans, the later hit back demanding a ticket to the space.
“It is a good suggestion by a BJP friend that I should go to the moon, if he can book a room for me on the moon and buy me a ticket then it will be a nice stay”, Adoor was quoted as saying by ANI.
On Thursday, the BJP leader created a controversy after suggesting that Adoor Gopalakrishnan must consider going to the moon if he is unable to tolerate those who chant “Jai Shri Ram”. His reaction had come after 49 celebrities signed a letter to Prime Minister Modi, raising their concerns on incidents of lynchings in the country. Adoor Gopalakrishnan was one of them.
Commenting on a Facebook post by Adoor, the BJP leader wrote, “If you are not keen to hear it (Jai Sri Ram), please register your name at Sriharikota and you can go to the moon.” He also advised the filmmaker to change his name.
Hitting back at the BJP leader, Adoor said their letter raised a concern and it was neither against the government nor against those chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’. They raised concern against incidents of lynching using the “chant as a war cry”. The filmmaker further claimed he got threat calls over the letter. Apart from him, another signatory and actor Kaushik Sen also alleged that he got threat call after signing the letter.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also came out in support of Adoor and condemned the BJP leader’s statement. Meanwhile, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has dismissed the concerns, saying they saw the same thing after 2014 Parliamentary elections in the name of ‘award wapsi’.
The signatories, in their letter, said there is “no democracy without dissent”. They added that people must not be branded as “anti-nationals” or “urban Naxals” for raising their concerns. “Lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions,” it added.