Hating Muslims Has Become Fashionable, Says Naseeruddin Shah

Mumbai: Naseeruddin Shah believes that hating Muslims is fashionable these days, even among educated people.

The actor extraordinaire said that hatred against Muslim community is being ‘cleverly’ tapped into people’s minds, and called it worrying times.

The 72-year-old actor, who is quite a vocal critic of the BJP-headed Central government, told The Indian Express in a recent interview that some of the contemporary films is the reflection of what is happening in reality — unabashed Islamophobia.

“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?” Naseeruddin was quoted as saying.

He blasted the Election Commission of India for being a mute spectator as politicians keep using religion to get votes, and shuddered to think what would have happened if a Muslim leader had sought votes saying ‘Allahu Akbar’.

“I mean how spineless is the Election Commission of ours which 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 said.

Naseeruddin’s last outing was the OTT web series ‘Taj: Divided by Blood’, in which he plays the role of Emperor Akbar.