103 filmmakers come together and calls for uprooting BJP to "protect democracy"
Mumbai, Mar 29: Celebrated indie filmmakers such as Anand Patwardhan, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and Devashish Makhija have come together to issue an appeal to defeat fascism in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, saying the country is going its most "testing times ever".
In a joint statement issued on the website www.artistuniteindia.com, the group of 103 filmmakers have called people "to protect the democracy of the country" and claimed that the "BJP has made the country the boardroom property of a handful of businessmen".
The unity of the nation - despite being culturally vivid and geographically diverse-"is at stake now'', they said.
"Fascism threatens to strike us hard with all its might if we don't choose wisely in the coming Lok Sabha election. Period. As we all know, ever since the BJP came to power in 2014, things have changed. And only for the worse," the statement read.
It has been signed by 103 filmmakers, including Vetri Maaran, Q, Deepa Dhanraj, Kabir Singh Chowdhry.
According to the statement, a country polarised along religious lines is "not the India we have known".
"Besides, the BJP and its allies have failed miserably in keeping their election promises. They are now using mob lynching and cow vigilantism to split the country communally. Marginalizing Dalits and Muslims is the name of the game. They are spreading their hate campaigns with the help of the internet and social media."
The filmmakers said patriotism is the BJP's trump card and any individual or institution that raises the slightest dissent is labelled "anti-national".
"'Let us not forget that some of our eminent writers and media persons lost their lives because they dared to dissent."
According to the directors, "romanticizing and exploiting the armed forces" is one of BJP's strategies, "even at the risk of engaging the nation in an unnecessary war."
The filmmakers said there is unrelenting onslaught on the cultural and scientific institutions in the country.
"Flawed economic policies that ended up as extreme disasters are covered up and made to look like successes. All with the help of false propaganda and marketing blitz. This has helped them to create a false optimism in the country. Manipulation of statistics and history is another one of their fond projects," the statement alleged.
The filmmakers said giving the BJP one more term in power will be a "grave blunder" and it could well be the "last nail in the coffin for the biggest democracy in the world".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
