Reacting to a Kerala Kerala BJP leader asking him to move to the moon, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, on Friday, said it was a good suggestion. B. Gopalakrishnan, a BJP leader from Kerala, had written a Facebook post asking Adoor, one of the 49 personalities who wrote an open letter to Modi against mob lynchings and intolerance, to move to the moon if he cannot stand the chants of 'Jai Shri Ram'.
"This is the Ramayana month. Chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' will emanate from India and neighbouring countries. If you cannot stand it, you can register your name at Sriharikota and go off to the moon," he said.
Speaking to ANI, Adoor said: “It is a good suggestion by this BJP friend that I should go to the moon, if he can book a room for me on moon and buy me a ticket then it will be a nice stay.”
The open letter also raised concerns over lynchings of minorities and the misuse of the phrase 'Jai Shri Ram'. The letter quotes NCRB numbers of lynchings, and also numbers reported by The Citizen's Religious Hate-Crime Watch. The letter also criticises the Narendra Modi and his government's inaction against the offenders.
“'Jai Shri Ram' has become a provocative 'war cry' today that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name. It is shocking that so much violence be perpetrated in the name of religion! These are not the Middle Ages,” the letter stated.
On Friday, 61 celebrities including actress Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Vivek Agnihotri, shared an open letter hitting back at the ''false narratives' in the open letter by Adoor and others. Slamming the signatories of the letter to the PM, they wrote: “Forty-nine self-styled 'guardians' and 'conscience keepers' of the nation and of the democratic values have once again expressed selective concern and demonstrated a clear political bias and motive.”