In a detailed interview with The Wire’s Sidharth Bhatia, actor Naseeruddin Shah comments on the ongoing anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests happening in several parts of the country. He says that the rise of India’s young against the current dispensation is amazing. ‘Even in Bollywood, the young actors and directors have risen against this law’, he adds. On the silence of the older and established stars, Shah says that he understands their silence but also wonders how long can they keep their silence going.
Actor Naseeruddin Shah’s family has been in the ranks of the Army and served as diplomats and administrators to the Indian government. He tells Sidharth Bhatia that ever since the flaring up of religious politics by the current government, he has become more aware of his Muslim identity and that he thinks is deeply worrying.
On the use of force against students in universities across the country, Shah says that he isn’t surprised why the PM has absolute contempt for students’ dissent. He says that because the PM has never been a student in a university himself, the lack of compassion or empathy towards them and their cause isn’t quite surprising.
