india

Updated: Aug 28, 2020 02:06 IST

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday attacked the Centre for branding those who show dissent as traitors and said the BJP has spawned a culture where religious zealots have labeled Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz anti-Indian for his iconic poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’.

In his weekly column Rokhthok in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, said that those who oppose the government are being put behind bars like it once happened in Russia, Iraq, China and in Hitler’s Germany.

“Revolutionary literature has always been created in India. Veer Savarkar’s literature was confiscated by the British even before it was published. What happened in that era shouldn’t happen today... Once upon a time in Russia, political opponents were tagged enemy of the revolution and put behind bars. Similar things happened in China. Nothing different happened in Iraq and Hitler’s Germany. Today in our country those who speak against the government are branded traitors,” Raut said in his column.

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The Sena leader backed Pakistani poet Faiz and said that he has been made anti-India by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Faiz was an enemy of the Pakistan army. He has been made anti-India by the BJP now. Faiz opposed the Pakistan army till he was alive. India has witnessed literature of dissent many times,” Raut said.

He said that a class within the country aims to curb the freedom of speech and expression and is sowing the seeds of “Taliban civilization”.

Last month, the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) had set up a panel to investigate if Faiz’s iconic poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ is “anti-Hindu” after students chanted his poem during a protest.

Raut added that when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the external affairs minister in the first non-Congress Union government he had broken protocol to meet Faiz in Pakistan during his official visit. He added that “restriction of religion and borders can’t be put on poets like Faiz”.

The Sena Member of Parliament also spoke about the backlash actor Deepika Padukone has faced for visiting Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to back the student’s protest. Many right wing trolls had called the boycott of her film Chhapaak for visiting JNU.

“Therefore, Deepika was termed the enemy of the revolution on India. Hurdles will be put in her way. Her advertisements will be banned now,” he said.