Bengaluru: “Why should my views be considered seditious? If I have friends in Pakistan, how does that amount to sedition,” questioned actor Ramya, against whom a sedition case had been filed at a local court in Somwarpet, Kodagu.
During a panel discussion on “Contrarian Views” at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday, the concluding day, she said that anything that goes against popular opinion is considered contrarian. “Everybody should be tolerant towards one another,” she said.
Columnist Aakar Patel, who too was part of the panel discussion along with Swarajya CEO Prasanna Viswanathan, Opinion Editor for a leading business daily Mihir Sharma and brand expert Harish Bijoor, said that charging someone with sedition is a waste of time.
“Till now there is no chargesheet against Kanhaiya Kumar,” he said. Kanhaiya was sent to police custody last year for his alleged anti-national remarks. While Ramya said that Hindi should not be imposed on others, Aakar said, “India has just one national language and that is English. We are a selfish, anglicised lot.”
When the audience wanted to know her views on the recent demonetisation, Ramya said that the entire process is being executed wrongly. Asked what she had done for the people of her constituency, the actor said that she had asked bank managers in her constituency, Mandya, to give bank forms in Kannada as people did not understand English there.
Left not right, say Pai, Malhotra
Chairman of Manipal Global Education T.V. Mohandas Pai and author Rajiv Malhotra slammed the intolerant attitude of the Indian media, with Mr Pai saying, “We have an intolerant tradition. Look at China or Islamic countries... even they have some sense of tolerance.”
The two panellists agreed that the media has no place for any ideology, but the leftist ideology. “Mainstream television channels are being controlled and the people are being misled into believing things that are not true,” Mr Malhotra observed.
The people did not know much about what was happening behind the scenes, they said. “Indian minds have been captured by JNU’s leftists,” added Mr Pai. Both said that Jawaharlal Nehru University is not pro-national.
