More than 60 eminent personalities including actress Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, classical dancer and MP Sonal Mansingh, instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Vivek Agnihotri have written an open letter against “selective outrage and false narratives”.

The letter addressed to Prime Minister Modi, reported by ANI, criticised the 49 “self-styled guardians” and “conscience keepers” of the nation and democratic values for their ”clear political bias and motive.”

The letter accused them of trying to foist a false narrative with the intention of maligning India’s image internationally. It said that these so called conscience keepers had kept mum when tribal and other marginalised communities were affected by naxal terror, when separatists gave call to burn the schools in Kashmir and when calls for dismembering the nation were echoed in leading university campuses.

The letter further stated that some of the signatories of the aforementioned letter acted as mouthpieces of insurgent and terror groups in the past. The letter goes on to mention several incidents where the self-styled guardians of democracy remained silent despite egregious abuse of rights, including vandalising Hindu temples, killing those with right-wing ideology etc.

The letter hailed the prime minister’s slogan of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” and expressed faith that India will continue to march forward despite those who try to destabilise polity and society through a “false sense of siege and victim hood.”