By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan,
Amitabh Bachchan’s recent visit to Gujarat and his praise for the state Chief Minister Narendra Modi are both surprising and dismaying, especially, for the clan of people which he hails from. One can understand his interest in doing such act, since his movie ‘Paa’ is still on the board and he is putting his best to make it alive and fresh at the box office. And, in order to do this, he has to go to such an extent.
However, this sounds really disturbing for his huge fan that moons over him the world over. Perhaps, this could be a start of a real bad end for a man of his stature, who had ruled the film industry for some decades and still admired for his exemplary performances in countless of movies. Or may be, he is a perplexed person at the moment, especially to the fact that his ‘Bade Bhaiyya’ (Amar Singh) sounds lingering nowhere in the political domain. After breaking alliance with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party seemed to be cosying up with the BJP. Jaya Bachchan is also an MP from the SP. Does the Big B’s new found friendship with Modi mean that a political realignment is in the offing or does it mean that the Bachchans too may be moving away from the SP just as Amar Singh did on Wednesday.
So is it a confused move of his that he applauds a person like Modi, or is it a kind of ‘tasting the water’ theory, which he has adopted in order to see the mood of his fans and followers – to decide which road to eventually opt for. Probably, his mood at the moment sounds, trying to tread paths contrary to his conventional nature and zest for which he is known for. The ways or methods, which were never seen when he became the part of the movies like Khakhi or Dev, wherein the character he played showcased a man who stood for justice and peace, regardless to the kind of threat lurking in his life. The movies which mirrored incidences occurred at that time, he had played the character of a spokesperson of marginalized people denied the justice and dignity. Now when we see him becoming a brand ambassador of Gujarat & a marketing man for its tourist places and also shaking hands and sharing dinner with people like Modi (who is virtually a farce creator with a hoax called vibrant Gujarat), it seems nothing but a road towards disaster.
“What happened, Sir? Why this sudden change? Is it mere an effort to make more money from your movie Paa? And that too from a place which is a dry zone for Aamir Khan, since his 3 Idiots has got the unprecedented response. But hang on! his movie is doing good there too. Moreover, movies like ‘Paa’ is nothing but a good effort to unveil certain rarest of rare disease which does exist in our society, just like how we find salt in any dish, so I presume, rather going for U/A grade, it must have a different class, wherein people with background like Medicine and psychology should go and watch and understand this unique disease and its implications in the society. I am still a worried man, since, I see him denying the Honorary Doctorate awarded by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, as Indians were attacked there in Australia, but the same Amitabh Bachchan, goes all the way to Gujarat, meets and appreciates people like Modi, whose hands are still deep in blood of more than 2000 Muslims killed in Gujarat Genocide, whose scares on millions of people still remain deep. I mean, what’s happening, I really fail to understand this dual nature of this person.
(The writer is a freelancer and media activist based in Nagpur, can be contacted at writeziya@gmail.com)
As Salamu Aliekum(Peace be on you)…
Brother Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan: Well written post. Mr.Amitabh Bachchan is a legend himself and no questions on stature. He’s a great Human being, lets wait and watch.
It does give us the impression that he has double standards, at one place he refuse the Honorary Doctorate by Australians because of the racist attacks on India and where as he goes on and shake hand with a person who is a witness of mass Genocide(this is the most sophisticated language i can use for Mr. Modi)…. I saw that video on News channels and it was really shameful on the part of Mr.Amitabh Bachchan.
I recently saw “PAA”, great movie, great work… Kudos to Mr.Amitabh Bachchan…
Jai Hind
Allah Hafiz…
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I think to call “Vibrant Gujarat” a hoax is not correct. Gujarat is growing at more than 11% a year and this is far better than any state in the country. Secondly this growth in GDP is not for Hindus only, it has helped every Gujarati to come out of poverty.
I am a Muslim from Gujarat who has witnessed riots with naked eyes at a tender age of 16. But still I think the way ahead for Muslims in Gujarat is to “Forgive and Forget”.
I urge all Muslims and especially intellectuals like Mr. Ziyaullah Khan, not to waste time on these unnecessary political comments. Lets work to build our community. Modi is not our enemy. Our enemy is illiteracy and poverty. If we dont give our present generation and especially coming generation of Indian Muslims- a life of respect and dignity then we are to blame and not any political leader like Modi.
Insha Allah if educated people like you, me and lots of other Muslims come together, we can bring a better life to our fellow Muslims. And I think this is a better service to do than just writing about some Actor’s dinner with a Political leader.
PS: I am sorry to Mr. Ziyaullah Khan if any of my comments hurt him. I would love to receive a reply from you. My e mail id is saifi.zubair@gmail.com
Allah Hafiz
The farce that has been ingrained in unprincipled practice of secular and religion has been a bane of India and was responsible for the vivisection of it in 1947. That is the reason many stalwarts of the ‘freedom movement’ are more than a holy cow of so called ‘pole apart’ parties. Barring the communists, you find a used rag or rougue form Congress finds place in BJP and a hardcore Shiv Sena wala is secular overnight and admitted into Congress. One need not seek examples here but the political ideologue of BJP are from the same stock, Congress.
So, my dear friend Ziyaullah Khan, it would be naive on Indian Muslims part to expect any better, principled behaviour. Here in India, a young man is so confused that to him the Best Book is A train to Pakistan while his favourite personality is Nerender Modi. It is upto Muslims now to take a stand without bothering to enjoy worldly this so that ‘real India’ survives. I would like to invoke Iqbal here, if we think and claim to be Muslims, mere possesion of the Qur’an is not going to help, practice is must.
2000 Muslims were killed in Gujarat- following the incidence of Godhra, this is a bitter but truth and being an Indian I am ashamed of this. But let’s let me be realistic. Investigation is still on and final verdict has not be reached upon. We must respect our law of land and we should also not try to believe that we are at liberty to pass the verdict on our own. Modi is guilty or not is yet to be decided and If he is guilty or anyone else for that matter, he should be punished by the system of law prevails in our country. On the other hand, I can not be blind to see what has been done to Gujarat in recent years and due to which it stands winner among all other states in India. Growth and prosperity do not favour just a segment of society, it does good to all of the segments. Modi is a good administrator and he put Gujarat in a path of imminent success. Can we imagine if all other states follow the way Gujarat did, where we can end up being in few years from now?. Can we be away for a while from practice of digging out rotten corpses of communism, riots and hatred from the past? Is it so hard for us to concentrate upon issues more relevant to us such as progress, growth and literacy? It is indeed a very high time we should move on and work hard to achieve new heights in financial solidarity so that all of us can be happy and live life with comfort and peace that we deserve.
Jai Hind
Khuda Hafiz