‘Muslim Hating’ Becomes fashionable, Even among educated individuals: Naseeruddin Shah

Naseeruddin Shah recently said that hate against the Muslim community is being ‘cleverly’ tapped into the minds of people. He added that it has become ‘fashionable’ and called it worrying times. The actor is a vocal critic of the ruling government party. Also read: Taj – Reign of Revenge Part 2 trailer: Vengeful Salim takes on Akbar in battle for the throne

Naseeruddin Shah’s latest work
Naseeruddin Shah’s last outing Taj: Divided by Blood stars him in the role of Akbar. It also stars Dharmendra, Aashim Gulati, Sandhya Mridul and Aditi Rao Hydari. The Zee5 show has been revived for a second season.

Naseruddin Shah on worrying times
Talking to Indian Express, Naseeruddin Shah recently said that the mood in ongoing films is the reflection of what is happened in reality, unabashed Islamophobia. He said, “Oh sure, these are worrying times absolutely. The kind of stuff that’s pure, undisguised propaganda is being lapped up and it’s a reflection of the zeitgeist of the times. 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?.” He added that the election commission is a mute spectator to politicians who are using religion to get votes. He believes that there would have been ‘utter devastation’ if a Muslim leader had asked for votes saying “Allahu Akbar”.

The senior actor hopes that the divisive religion card will somehow ‘wear off’ soon. “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 also said.

This is not the first time that Naseeruddin Shah has commented about the Indian government. The actor is known for his bold statements.