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Shashi Tharoor writes to PM on FIR against 50 celebrities; says don’t let ‘Mann Ki Baat’ turn into ‘Maun Ki Baat’

As the citizens of India, everyone hopes that fearlessly bring your notice issues of national importance so that you can take the lead to address people

On Tuesday Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came out strongly in support of the 49 celebrities against whom an FIR was lodged last week in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur for writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that highlighted the growing incidents of mob lynching in India.

Tharoor said he was “deeply disturbed” by the FIR filed against the authors of the open letter and urged the Prime Minister to publically welcome dissent even if it was against him or his government.

“As the citizens of India, everyone hopes that fearlessly bring your notice issues of national importance so that you can take the lead to address people. We would like to believe that you too would support the right to freedom of expression so that the ‘Mann ki baat’ of the well-meaning citizens of India does not turn into ‘Maun ki baat’,” said Tharoor.
https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1181393057628844032
In his letter, he added that there was no “democracy without dissent”. “Our great country India is built on the bedrock of coexistence of diverse and often diverging views and ideologies. This is what makes India a successful and vibrant democracy. Those who criticize or have opposing views to yours are considered deemed enemies or anti-national,” Tharoor added.

On 4th October an FIR was lodged against nearly 50 celebrities, including Ramchandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who had written an open letter to PM Modi raising concern over the increasing incidents of mob lynching.

Many cases of mob lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately while stressing that there was “no democracy without dissent”. It also noted that the term Jai Shri Ram had been reduced to a “provocative war cry”.

Tharoor raised if action against dissenters was indicative of the ‘Naya Bharat’ PM Modi wishes to create. “Since when has written a letter of concern to the elected leader of the country the trigger for an FIR? Is the ‘Naya Bharat’ you wish to create one where citizens shall not be heard and their concerns not addressed?” Tharoor raised questions.

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