The elections are just around the corner and most of us desire a hate-free democratic environment, free of biases and with everyone allowed to express themselves with little or no consequences.
Over 200 writers and artistes in India, including Girish Karnad, Arundhati Roy, Nayantara Sehgal and many more, issued an appeal on April 1 asking people to vote for a diverse and equal India and against hate politics.
The appeal was issued on the Indian Cultural Forum, where 210 signatories said, "In the last few years, we have seen citizens being lynched or assaulted or discriminated against because of their community, caste, gender, or the region they come from."
"Hate politics has been used to divide the country; create fear; and exclude more and more people from living as full-fledged citizens. Writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians and other cultural practitioners have been hounded, intimidated, and censored. Anyone who questions the powers-that-be is in danger of being harassed or arrested on false and ridiculous charges," alleged the writers.
Mentioning that they "don't want rationalists, writers and activists to be hounded or assassinated," the signatories intend to safeguard the diversity.
Other prominent names who signed the appeal include Amitav Ghosh, Vivek Shanbhag, Urvashi Butalia, Meena Kandasamy, Benyamin, Vivan Sundaram, Namita Gokhale, K.N. Panikkar, Ranjit Hoskote, Jeet Thayil, Jerry Pinto, Romila Thapar and Ashok Vajpeyi.
The languages in which the appeal has been issued include English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.
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