‘Save Democracy, Oust BJP’, Appeal Over 100 Filmmakers

Bhubaneswar: Over a 100 filmmakers from across the country have come together to issue a statement to “Save Democracy” and oust the BJP from power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, reports The Quint.

The list includes veteran documentarian Anand Patwardhan, National Award winner Vetri Maran, who recently directed the Dhanush-starrer Vada Chennai, popular Malayalam language producer/director Aashiq Abu, festival director Bina Paul and other well-known independent filmmakers such as Gurvinder Singh, Devashish Makhija, Pushpendra Singh, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and Kabir Singh Chowdhry.

A statement they have issued says: “Though culturally vivid and geographically diverse, we have always stayed united. As a nation. It has indeed been a great feeling to be a citizen of this wonderful country.” They listed as their main concerns “unleashing of polarisation and hate politics; marginalisation of Dalits, Muslims and farmers; steady erosion of the cultural and scientific institutions; and increasing censorship,” under the BJP government.

The statement closes with a call to prevent the BJP from coming back to power. “We urge all of you to do everything in your capacity to keep this harmful regime from coming back to power.”

The complete statement and list of signatories can be found at www.artistuniteindia.com.