Veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah, who can be currently seen playing the character of Mughal emperor Akbar in ZEE5’s historical drama Taj: Divided By Blood and its sequel Taj: Reign of Revenge, has commented on the rising trend of “Muslim hating” in current times, saying hate against the Muslims is being “cleverly” tapped into and has become “fashionable”.
When asked if it worries him that some films and shows are spreading disinformation and propaganda, Shah told Indian Express, “Oh sure, these are worrying times absolutely. The kind of stuff that’s pure, undisguised propaganda is being lapped up and it is a reflection of the zeitgeist of the times.”
Taking a swipe at the ruling party BJP, the award-winning actor added, “Muslim hating is fashionable these days, even among educated people. It’s what the ruling party has very cleverly tapped into this nerve. We talk about secular this, democracy that, so why are you introducing religion into everything?”
Shah lambasted the Indian election commission for not taking stringent actions against those politicians who are using religion to get votes. “I mean how spineless is the election commission of ours who doesn’t even dare utter a word? If there had been a Muslim leader who had said, ‘Allah Hu Akbar bol ke button dabao’, sh*t would have hit the fan.
“But here our Prime Minister goes ahead and says things like this and yet he loses. So, I have hope that this will wear off. But it’s definitely, at the moment, at its peak. It’s been a very clever card played by this government, and it has worked. Let’s see how long it continues to work,” he signed off.
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