Actor Naseeruddin Shah with wife Ratna Pathak in Ajmer on Friday. (Photo: PTI) Actor Naseeruddin Shah with wife Ratna Pathak in Ajmer on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah on Friday wondered why he was being called a traitor for expressing concerns about the country he loves, even as protests in Ajmer prevented him from inaugurating the Ajmer Literature Festival (ALF).

Speaking to Harsh Mander-led Karwan-e-Mohabbat earlier this week, Shah had said, “The poison has already spread. It will be very difficult to capture this djinn back in the bottle. There is complete impunity for those who take law into their own hands. In many areas we are witnessing that the death of a cow has more significance than that of a police officer. I feel anxious thinking about my children. Because they don’t have a religion… tomorrow if a mob surrounds them and asks ‘are you a Hindu or a Muslim?’ they will have no answer. It worries me because I don’t see the situation improving anytime soon. These matters don’t scare me, they make me angry…”

Earlier this month, inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was killed in mob violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr districts after cow carcasses were found.

As the video of Shah went viral and drew criticism from some sections, the Congress tweeted on Thursday evening, “Naseeruddin Shah we concur, do not fear the hate, fight it.”

On Friday, Shah, who was in Ajmer to attend the ALF, said, “I don’t know why (people are criticising the comments), because what I said was as a concerned Indian… I don’t know what I have said now that I’m being called a traitor.

“Main apne mulk, jis sey main pyar karta hun, jo mera apna ghar hai, main uske bare me baat keh raha hun, apni fikr zahir kar raha hun. Isme kaunsa maine gunah kiya (I am saying something and expressing concern about my nation which I love, which is my home. What sin have I committed?),” Shah told reporters at St Anselm’s Senior Secondary School in Ajmer, his alma mater, where he “returned after 52 years”.

Shah was scheduled to attend ALF’s inaugural ceremony at 2 pm on Friday, along with wife Ratna Pathak Shah and poet Ras Bihari Gaur, who is the festival coordinator. This was to be followed by a session titled ‘Naseer ki Nazar’ at 2.30 pm.

Following protests by BJP Yuva Morcha members, the ALF organisers announced that the actor was not attending the event. “The people were creating a nuisance at the venue and climbed on the stage and it seemed as if they would indulge in vandalism, so we requested Naseer sahab that we are not in a position to organise his session,” Gaur said. Pathak too skipped the inauguration and the organisers brought in other speakers for their sessions.

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