M M Desk,
New Delhi: Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah says that he is worried for children in today’s India. He’s worried because he imagines a situation where his children may be surrounded by an angry mob and asked: “Are you Hindu or Muslim?”
“My children will have no answer,” Naseeruddin Shah says, “Because we chose not to give a religious education to our children.”
He also talked about the “poison” that has spread in the Indian society. “There is complete impunity for those who take the law into their own hands. We have already witnessed that the death of a cow has more significance (in today’s India) than that of a police officer,” said Shah.
The video was uploaded by Karwan-e-Mohabbat India, a travelling activist collective that is focused on highlighting and combating instances of hate crimes and mob lynching.
He further talked about the religious education he and his wife Ratna Pathak got from their parents and how he decided not to impart it to their children. “I was given a religious education. But Ratna did not get any religious education, she had a liberal household. And we chose not to give religious education to our children,” said Shah.
“There is complete impunity for those who take the law into their own hands,” Naseeruddin says. “We have already witnessed that the death of a cow has more significance [in today’s India] than that of a police officer.”
Naseeruddin was referring to the recent Bulandshahr violence in which a police officer was killed by a mob. The violence was sparked by the discovery of cow carcasses.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested three people in connection with the alleged cow slaughter. The policeman’s killers remain free.
Shah was born into a Muslim family in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India, as one of the three sons of Aley Mohammed Shah and his wife Farrukh Sultan. He is a descendant of a 19th-century Sayyid Afghan warlord Jan-Fishan Khan (Sayyid .
Shah did his schooling at St. Anselm’s Ajmer and St Joseph’s College, Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and attended National School of Drama in Delhi.
Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant, Aakrosh, Sparsh, Mirch Masala, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Trikal, Bhavni Bhavai, Junoon, Mandi, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Ardh Satya, Katha, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, And Jalwa. to name a few.