Bollywood actor and director Nandita Das is the latest actress to speak up about the current scenario in India. Majority of Bollywood celebs have been voicing their opinion on the ongoing political issues of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), but many have been accused of keeping mum and not raising their voices too. Nandita Das recently attended the 13th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, where she also launched her book on the author titled Manto and I.
At the media interaction when Nandita was asked about her stance on CAA and NRC she said, “All these wonderful students and women, the many Shaheen Baghs springing up around the country, they are giving us a lot of courage to speak up. It is important to come out sometimes on the streets not just to expand the protests but for your own conscience. Sometimes, we need these reminders and reaffirmations that we are not alone." (ALSO READ: Saif Ali Khan On Not Speaking About CAA Protest - ‘Taking Either Stand Sometimes Have Different Results’)
Actor Nandita Das on #CAA, in Jaipur: People who have been here from four generations, you are telling them that this is not your country, this is very upsetting. I believe everyone should speak over it. In fact, people are speaking and there are spontaneous protests all over. pic.twitter.com/sN8fqXki13
— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2020
Das said at the PC, that there are ways in which they threaten you. “They want us to be scared and we have to overcome that. I always feel that if you focus on your convictions, the courage will automatically follow. We don't need to seek courage. Just as fear begets fear, courage also begets courage,” she said.
“One of the reasons I have made the film on Manto was to invoke the ''Mantoiyat'' in us. ''Mantoiyat'' means the will to be pursuing truth, the will to be more courageous and the will to be more free-spirited. That's what Manto represents to me. It's not just the man, but Manto, the idea. And, more and more people are speaking up. They don't want another Partition to happen. If Manto were alive today, he would have said have you learned nothing from the past. The most dangerous is when you start censoring yourself. Because of the climate of fear, you feel I better not speak up because you don't know what will happen, you make your family vulnerable,” she added
Images Source: danikpratap.com