Noted filmmaker Adoor Gopalkrishnan, one of the 49 celebrities who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 23 on mob lynchings, said it is easy to enlist any number of people when you are in power but the government cannot "camouflage" real issues.
"You get any number of people when you are in power and you can enlist any number of people," he said while talking to in a reference to 62 celebrities who on Friday attacked the intellectuals who were crotocal of the BJP governments on the issue of mob lynching.
"They'll get a 100 people, why 60? It's possible. But you can't camouflage a real issue by bringing in something alien to it.," he said.
The 78-year-old filmmaker said that he along with other 48 celebrities wrote the letter keeping in mind that they live in a democracy and so they do not plan to wage any war against the 62 celebrities.
He added, "But then are these people really concerned about these things?
With the 62 celebrities including actor Kangana Ranaut and lyricist Prasoon Joshi criticising them, the veteran filmmaker stated, "We aren't afraid of being outnumbered."
He continued, "If the government doesn't want to take any action, its okay. We aren't going to fight for it."
Explaining his stand on mob lynching, the filmmaker said that they wrote the letter as they were "deeply affected".
"None of the signatories is a politician; everybody is either an artist or a writer. So, it should have been taken in the right spirit," he adviced.
Gopalkrishnan added, "There was no other civilised way of letting the PM know that this is happening and immediately it should be put an end to this kind of madness, most uncivilised way of treating another human being just because he belonged to minority."
His reactions came in the wake of an open letter titled 'Against Selective Outrage & False Narratives' written by 62 celebrities addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The letter terms the 49 celebrities who wrote an open letter on mob-lynchings as "self-styled guardians and conscience keepers".
( With inputs from ANI )