Film director Vivek Agnihotri along with sixty other celebrities wrote an open letter 'Against Selective Outrage & False Narratives' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a counter to the letter written recently by 49 eminent persons on the issue of lynching.
"We have initiated and written this letter because some 49 people wrote a letter saying there is intolerance and we felt they were playing the minority card with wrong facts," the ace director said.
Agnihotri and the 60 celebrities state that the previous letter was written by "people who are misusing their power and position to generate a false narrative that under the current government things are going wrong".
Agnihotri further said, "They ignored all the Sikhs which were butchered by the goons of Rajeev Gandhi in 1984, they ignored all the Kashmiri Hindus who were butchered and thrown out of Kashmir and for them minorities means only means Muslim vote banks."
"In Mumbai when Parsis are lynched in the roadside scenarios or Jain or Sikhs are lynched their heart doesn't bleed. So we felt it was very one-sided selective outrage, so there should be another point out view which should come out in public domain so that the people can decide on their own that's why this letter is being written," added Agnihotri.
The 'Zid' director further said: "What is happening for the past five years a trend has been set where 50-60 people debate on intolerance, portraying that the complete Hindu community is responsible for it, which I think is totally wrong. We want to tell people that system is responsible for this, which has been built in 60-years for the vote bank. Our letter is against criminalising the crime that divides the public," asserted the director.
Taking a jibe at those who demanded "exemplary punishment" to be given "swiftly and surely" in lynching cases, the director said the initiated campaign is not "in favour of India."
"If you see the whole matter, you will see Aparna Sen keeps on meeting naxalites and Maoists, and then there is Binayak Sen and Anurag Kashyap, who are convicted naxal and leftist respectively. The campaign that is being funded by China, Red and Islamic terror money, how can it be in favour of India ? Agnihotri said.
( With inputs from ANI )