Death of a cow has more significance than a police officer's in today's India: Naseeruddin Shah

Actor Naseeruddin Shah, who was recently in the news for calling Virat Kohi ‘the worst-behaved cricketer in the world’ said he is worried for his children in today’s India and imagines a situation where they would be surrounded by an angry mob and asked: “Are you Hindu or Muslim?"

He said: “My children will have no answer. Because we chose not to give a religious education to our children."

In a video message posted on YouTube by Karwan-e-Mohabbat India that ‘poison had been spread’ and that it will be ‘difficult to capture this genie back into the bottle’.

He said, referring to the recent Bulandshahr violence: “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."

His comments were put online by Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love), a collective that claims to focus on highlight and combat instances of hate crimes and lynching.

Naseeruddin Shah's comments were put online by Karwan-e-Mohabbat India (Caravan of Love), a travelling activist collective that is focussed on highlight and combating instances of hate crimes and lynching.

He added: “I was given a religious education...But Ratna [Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin's wife] did not get any religious education...[And] we chose not to give a religious education to our children.”

Nasiruddin Shah should first ask Rohingyas to leave Hindustan as according to him India is unsafe for him and his family! An artist should not be part of sinister design of anti cil society propaganda . His statement shows his low thinking.

— Prof Rakesh Sinha (@RakeshSinha01) December 20, 2018

He said he believed ‘good and evil have nothing to do with religion’ and said: “So I fear for my children...Because if a mob gathers around them and asks them are you a Hindu or Muslim, they will not have any answer...Because they have no religion. I am angry and I believe every right-thinking man must be angry and must not fear."

Reacting, RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha wrote: “Nasiruddin Shah [sic] should first ask Rohingyas to leave Hindustan as according to him India is unsafe for him and his family," Sinha said in a tweet before suggesting that Shah was becoming part of a "sinister design of anti cil [civil] society propaganda. His statement shows his low thinking.”