Mumbai: As Narendra Modi government celebrates two years in power, veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah says citizens of the country should give more time to it before making perceptions though he feels a bit worried by the “changes made in few textbooks”. He, however, says the government is not “stupid” enough to turn the nation towards “dark ages”. He also hit out at fellow actor Anupam Kher saying that someone who’d never lived in Kashmir suddenly started fighting for Kashmiri Pandits.
“People are taking decisions and making perceptions too fast. I think we should give the government more time. But, there are few things which make me concerned, like the kind of alterations in the text books those are the things to worry about,” Shah said in an interview here.
The 66-year-old actor was in the capital to promote his film “Waiting” which released today. “I believe the people in the government are not stupid to understand the choices in front of them, either to build a modern India or to take us back into the dark ages. I think they are not stupid to take the second choice.
“Not for anything else but to at least be in power. I am not leaving the hope. If we will leave the hope it means we have lost the battle,” he added.
The three-time National award-winning actor also took potshots at Anupam Kher, who has been vocal about his fight for Kashmiri Pandits, especially their rehabilitation in the Valley, saying, “A person who has never lived in Kashmir has started a fight for Kashmiri Pandits. Suddenly, he became a displaced person.”
Shah supported noted lyricist Javed Akhtar’s statements during his farewell speech in Rajya Sabha saying nobody has the right to question a person’s love for their motherland.
“I am sad that statements like these (referring to AIMIM MP Asaddudin Owaisi) are made and then they are not even condemned. Like Javed sahab said, ‘It is his right to say ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. I will say it with my choice not because somebody asks me to,’ I support him. Nobody has a right to question my love for my country,” he said.
Akhtar had slammed Owaisi for saying that he won’t chant ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ because the Constitution does not ask him to do so. He had also condemned right-wing extremists who say Muslims should go to Pakistan.
(PTI)
