“We live in times of fear and imposed silence,” said actor Nandita Das at South Asian Conference on Gender and Sexuality held at IIT-B in Powai on Tuesday. Nandita Das was also among the group of Intolerance Brigade Who filed petion in support of Yakub Memon.
Ms. Das had starred in Deepa Mehta’s Fire (1998), which was one of the first mainstream Indian films to highlight homosexual relations and portray lesbian relationships in a sensitive manner. She said, “Fire is really one of those few films where you can actually see the impact. It compelled us to talk about homosexuality, whether you hated or liked it or if it made you feel uncomfortable. I don’t know if a Fire can be made today, or if we are liberal enough as a society to make a film like that again. Even the artistic fraternity has been self-censoring itself.”
Filmmaker Onir’s directorial debut, My Brother…Nikhil (2005), was one of the first Indian films to address the need for AIDS awareness from the eyes of a homosexual swimmer.
Taking Ms Das’s point on censorship forward, Onir said, “In 2005, when I made My Brother… Nikhil, it was inspired from a documentary that I was editing. I did not realise at the time that releasing the film might be a problem. I was made to add a disclaimer saying that it was fictitious, after which I got a universal certificate. When I made I Am in 2011, I thought that we had moved ahead as a society but it took me six months to get an adult certification because one of the stories in I Am spoke about Article 377.”
Aditya Joshi, an IIT alumnus, spoke about his directorial debut, Darwaze, a short film that talks about discrimination against people of diverse genders in rented apartments in cities. Mr. Joshi said, “As a gay man living and working in Mumbai, I watched Indian cinema very closely. On the last day of my M.Tech course, I remember somebody referring to the most macho person of the batch as Sunny Deol, while I was voted as the Bobby Darling of the group. As I had still not come out, these terms affected me substantially.”
He added, “I remember watching English Vinglish and noticing how the gay character was mocked by the audience. When Sridevi’s character stood up for him, she silences not only the characters in the movie but also the hecklers in the cinema hall.”
Earlier,
Presented below is list of those Indian citizens who requested President of India to consider mercy plea of terrorist Yakub Memon convicted in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case. In other words these are the people who didn’t want a terrorist to hang.
Some of the people in this list from Gujarat are associated with Church, some with foreign funded NGOs. But then there are two members of parliament elected as BJP candidate too. They are Ram Jethmalani and Shatrughan Sinha.
Memorandum and petitions with long list of signatures of ’eminent persons’ is conventional and common practice of foreign funded NGOs-left eco system. Scores of such petitions were in circulation in Gujarat during the Narendra Modi years.
Do ask common citizens on street, and they would support hanging of a terrorist. But then there are vocal few who are positioned well in media, film industry, academic world and at other places. They keep creating alternative narrative, and bombard it so much and so craft-fully that their narratives take forefront position, leaving common man and common sense pushed to back seat in almost defensive position. So whether it’s Kashmir issue or relations with Pakistan or penalty to terrorist or building Narmada dam or electing Modi against Rahul or banning cow slaughter, a small vocal ’eminent’ brigade would attempt to make us common citizens believe the things that are unacceptable to us.
Popular author Rajiv Malhotra in his book breaking India calls them ‘Breaking India’ forces, popular twitter tag about them is #aadarshliberals, and this tag attracts thousands of tweets and retweets on regular basis. Event by event a group of well-connected, well-positioned, well-funded vocal few keep exposing self with ridiculous stands, beliefs and logic. Hanging of Yakub Memon was just one more in this series.
A list of those who signed a “Petition By Eminent Citizens Pleading Presidential Pardon For Yakub Memon”
Justice Panachand Jain (Retd) Justice H.S. Bedi (Retd) Justice P. B. Sawant (Retd) Justice H. Suresh (Retd) Justice K. P. Siva Subramaniam (Retd) Justice S. N. Bhargava (Retd) Justice K Chandru (Retd) Justice Nagmohan Das (Retd) Shatrughan Sinha MP Mani Shankar Aiyer, MP Ram Jethmalani, MP Majeed Memon, MP Sitaram Yechury, MP, G.S, CPI(M) D. Raja, MP, Secretary, CPI K.T.S Tulsi, MP H.K. Dua, MP T. Siva, MP Prakash Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML)-Liberation Brinda Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau N. Ram, Senior Journalist Prashant Bhushan, Senior Lawyer Jagmati Sangwan, General Secretary, AIDWA Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWAAnnie Raja, General Secretary, NFIW Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation M. K. Raina, Film & theatre artist Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker Naseeruddin Shah, Actor Mahesh Bhatt, Filmmaker Lalit Vachani, Filmmaker Ram Rahman Vivan Sundaram, Artist Prof. Prabhat Patnaik Prof. C. P. ChandrasekharProf. Utsa Patnaik Ritu Diwan, Former Director & Head Dept of Economics, Mumbai University Jean DrezePamela Philipose, Journalist Achin Vanaik Adv. Flavia Agnes, Director, Majlis Legal Centre, Mumbai.Parthiv Shah Prof. Irfan Habib Prof. Arjun Dev Prof. D. N. Jha Prof. Kalpana Kannibaran, Hyderabad Indira Jaisingh, Former, Addl. Sol. General Kirti Singh, Former Member, Law Commission Vrinda Grover, LawyerProf. Abhijit Sen Dr. Imrana Qadir Dilip D’souza, Author Ravi Chelam, Biologist and Conservationist Scientist, Bengaluru Prof. Sohini Ghosh Associate Prof. Sabina Gadihoke Smita Gupta, economist Prof. Jayati Ghosh Prof. Jagmohan Singh, Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Ludhiana Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad Manisha Sethi, Academic Prof. Ved Kumari Biraj Patnaik Virginia Saldanha Prof.Madhu PrashadAnees Azmi Rahul Saxena Anjali Mody Dr. Nikita Sood, Oxford University Rahul Roy, Filmmaker Dr. Ayesha Kidwai Prof. Harbans Mukhia Adv. Kamayani Bali Mahabal Binoo John (senior journalist, author) Nachiket Udupa N. Jayaram Prof. Pulin Nayak Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy Angana Chatterjee Deep Joshi Mr. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong Ms. Angela Rangad, Shillong Sanjay Karkala Gitanjali Prasad Vivek Sundara Arundhati Dhuru NAPM Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration CouncilChetan Mali Vidula Ramabai Nandini Sundar, Professor, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi UniversitySuroor Mander Rammanohar Reddy Kiran Bhatty, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New DelhiLaxmi Murthy Aruna Roy, MKSS Rev. Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh, Shillong Ms. Kalpana Kumar, Delhi Asad Zaidi, Writer Dunu Roy, Hazards Centre, New Delhi Sohail Akbar Mr. Napolean S. Mawphniang, Shillong Ms. Gertrude Lamare, , Shillong Ms. Janice Pariat, Shillong Ms. Angela Rangad, Shillong Mr. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong Ms. Mona Mishra, Delhi Mr. Aflatoon, Varanasi, Secretary (Organisation), Samajwadi JanparishadMr. Manas Das, Bangalore Ms. Amba Kak, Delhi Kshetrimayum Onil, Imphal Subrat Kumar Sahu, Delhi Dr. Kranti Bhavana, Patna Mr. Taru Dalmia, Delhi Mr. Apal, Jaunpur Mr. Mujibur Khan, Delhi Ms Kanika Kamra, Chandigarh Ms Neelima Goyal Ms Brinda Bose, Delhi Mr. Hossein Fazeli, Mr. Jatinder Mauhar Singh, Chandigarh Himanshi Rawat, Delhi Dhruba J. Dutta Abhinandita Mathur Rahul Saxena, Bangalore, IndiaMuralidharan, Secretary, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled Ghazala Jamil Sohail HashmiPrabir Purkayastha Nikhil De, MKSS Michael Noronha, (Mysore) Ovais Sultan Khan Abha Baiya Ashok Chowdhury, AIUFWP Bondita Acharya, Jorhat, Assam Dr.Rosemary Dzuvichu, Nagaland University, Kohima Kalyani Menon-Sen Gita Sen Vani Subramaniam Saheli Women’s Resource Centre Gabriele Dietrich Niraj Malik Javed Malick Kiran Shaheen Dyuti Ailawadi Ramlath Kavil Supriya Madangarli Amrita Shodhan Geetanjali Gangoli Helen Saldana Albertina Almeida Pushpa Achanta Kalpana Mehta WSS Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression Vineeta Bal Malini Subramaniam Sumi KrishnaRatna Appnender Sujata Patel Chayanika Shah Sadhna Arya Asmita Basu Johanna Lokhande Pyoli Swatija Mamta Singh Ardhendu Sen Parijata Sakina Bahora Juhi Jain Meena Seshu Vahida Nainar Indira Chakravarthy Anubha Rastogi Soma KP Abha Bhaiya Runu Chakraborty Shraddha Chickerur Mihira SoodNisha Biswas Ilina Sen Preetha Nair Rakhi Sehgal Shoma Sen Greeshma Aruna Rai Uma Chandru Shals Mahajan LABIA Queer Feminist Collective Sujata Gothoskar Sandhya Gokhale Forum Against Oppression of Women Nikita Sonavane Lalita Ramdas Veena Shatrughna Abhi Nandita Mathur Freda Guttman Vinod Mubayi, Co-editor, Insaf Bulletin T K Raghunathan Abby Lippman, PhD, Professor Emerita, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Martin Duckworth, cineaste Shrikumar Poddar NRISAHI George Abraham NRISAHI Mohammad Imran NRISAHI Kasim Sait Progressive Interactions, Chennai Kareem SaitJai Sen Prof.Praveen Jha A K Ramakrishnan Gitanjali Prasad Rohan Dominic Mathews Amod ShahShreya Agarwal Anamika Lahiri Rhea John Kiran Bhatty Vanita Leah Falcao Ankita Aggarwal Aashish Gupta Avantika Dhingra Radhika Jha Seema Jha Sridhar A Farah Naqvi, Writer and Activist, Delhi Radha Holla Brar Vinay Kulkarni Veena Shatrugna R Srivatsan KS Jacob Ravi Duggal Indira CharkavartiSulakshna Nandi Amar Jesani Dhruv Mankad Manisha Gupte Renu Khanna Sarojini Saraswathy Ganapathy Anant Phadke Chinu Srinivasan Ygesh Jain Dr. Mohan Rao C Sathyamala Pallavi Gupta Sukla Sen Veena Johari Ajaya Kumar Singh, Social Activist, Odisha Forum for Social Action, BhubaneswarAmalendu Upadhyaya, Editor, hastakshep.com Anjali Monteiro, Mumjbai Anubha Rastogi, advocate, Mumbai Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Jamwal Apoorvanand, Teacher, DU Capt. Tauseef H. Mukadam, Airline Pilot – Air Asia India, Bangalore Darryl D’Monte, Chairperson, Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI), Mumbai Devangshu Datta, New Delhi Farah Naqvi, Writer and Activist, Delhi Fr. Cedric Prakash sj, Director, PRASHANT, Gujarat Francis Parmar.Gujarat G. M. Sheikh, artist, Vadodara Gagan Sethi, development professional, Gujarat Geeta Seshu, Journalist, Mumbai, Maharashtra Ghanshyam Shah, academician, Gujarat Githa Hariharan, writer, New Delhi Harsh Kapoor, New Delhi Harsh Mander, social activist, writer, Aman Biradari, New Delhi Hussain Indorewala, Asst. Professor, Madhta Pradesh Indira Chandrasekhar, publisher, New Delhi K.P. Jayasankar, Mumbai Manan Trivedi, Social Activist, GujaratManoranjan Mohanty, New Delhi Mitul Baruah, Syracuse University, NY Mukul Mangalik, Ramjas College, DU N.D.Jayaprakash, Social Activist, New Delhi Nasreen Fazalbhoy, Mumbai Navaid Hamid, MOEMIN, New Delhi Nilanjana S Roy, New Delhi Nilima Sheikh, artist, Vadodara Priya Pillai , Environmental Activist , Greenpeace India. Radha Khan, Freelance development consultant. Ram Puniyani, writer, Mumbai Rohit Chopra, Associate Professor Santa Clara University Rupa Gulab S.Q.Masood, activist, HyderabadSadanand Menon, Chennai Sanjiv Bhatt, IPS Gujarat Shankar Singh, MKSS, Rajasthan Sheba George, Director , SAHR WARU , Gujarat Vineet Tiwari, Progressive Writers Association, Indore Swarna Rajagopalan, Researcher, Chennai Isha Khandelwal, Lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group Shalini Gera, Lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group Nandini Rao, women’s rights activist, New Delhi Y J Rajendra, GEneral Secretary, PUCL – Karnataka Irfan Engineer, Mumbai Prof Archana Prasad Dr. Dinesh Abrol
