An appeal from several Bollywood actors, directors and scriptwriters to Indian voters has split the film industry down the middle.

The open letter addressed to Indians says, “The need of the hour is to protect our country’s secular foundation. Undoubtedly, corruption and governance are important issues, but we will have to vigilantly work out ways of holding our government accountable to that. However, one thing is clear: India’s secular character is not negotiable! Not now, not ever.”

The letter adds, “As Indian citizens who love our motherland, we appeal to you to vote for the secular party, which is most likely to win in your constituency.”

Among the sixty film personalities who have signed the letter are Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nandita Das, Govind Nihalani, Saeed Mirza, Zoya Akhtar, Nandita Das, Kabir Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Shubha Mudgal and Aditi Rao Hydari.

Actor Nandita Das told NDTV, “In many ways it is a call to vote against Mr Modi…not only him but all other parties that have in the past and continue to profess and divide people on communal lines.”

Scriptwriter Anjum Rajabali, who drafted the letter told NDTV, “Our sense of India comes from the fact that we are a secular country and if that notion is challenged…if that itself is vulnerable at this moment, that is what has compelled people to speak up. It is the right wing fundamentalist forces within the BJP that are making young people feel very insecure.”

But another section of the fraternity emphatically rejected this view. Veteran scriptwriter Salim Khan, who inaugurated Narendra Modi’s Urdu website today in Mumbai said, “My relationship with Modi sahab is on the basis of my Urdu articles. When he had come to Mumbai, he expressed his desire to meet me. I met him. For me nobody is untouchable.”

Others call the appeal a conspiracy and “unwarranted paranoia”. Director Madhur Bhandarkar tweeted, “Shocking to see some colleagues, under garb of stopping so-called divisive forces, are themselves dividing a secular place like Bollywood.

“Let’s hope better sense prevails and our film industry elects Narendra Modi with a thumping majority. It’s time India got a visionary leader,” he said in another tweet.

Actor Tusshar Kapoor tweeted, “To cover up for corruption & bad governance, the ‘secular’ card is being stretched a bit too far! No party can claim the secular prize!”.

For an industry that has often been accused of being indifferent to elections, the fierce war of words is unprecedented.

The Bombay High Court asked BEST — the civic bus service — not to implement the new computerised schedule for drivers and conductors at the depots other than the one at the suburban Malad where it has been implemented on an experimental basis.

The BEST management and employees have been embroiled in a dispute over the new schedule. While employees claim that under the new schedule they have to work for more than 12 hours a day, the management says it will optimise the use of the workforce, ensure better frequency of buses and save Rs 32 crore for the undertaking annually.

The two sides had signed a Memorandum of Understanding by which it was decided that the new scheduling system would be implemented on an experimental basis at the New Malad depot from April, and after considering the shortfalls it would be implemented elsewhere from June 1.

However, on April 11, BEST Workers’ Union approached the High Court claiming that schedules were changed at Goregaon and Malwani depot too. BEST contended that the implementation of the new schedule at Malad would affect the depots in nearby areas to some extent.

“What is the extent of impact in other depots because of this experiment? Experiment by all means but don’t change the schedule of staff of other depots. If you are doing that then it means that you are starting the new schedule in other depots too. That is violative of the memorandum. Is it necessary to touch the schedule of staff from other depots too?” Justice N M Jamdar asked.

The court added that the BEST should conduct its experiment with minimum impact on other depots.

The court was also critical of the conduct of the union and chided it for resorting to strikes frequently. “Now that you have approached the court have some faith in it. Or else I will not entertain this petition,” Justice Jamdar said, adjourning the hearing to April 23.

Seeking to scotch speculation about any change of plan after the elections, BJP president Rajnath Singh today said “only Narendra Modi will be the PM” and expressed confidence that the NDA will reach the 300-seat mark.
“Let me clarify that under any circumstances, it will be Modi who will be the prime minister. A moral authority is needed for the post besides administrative acumen. We have been projecting Modi for the PM’s post,” he told reporters.
The BJP chief was responding to a query about speculation of his (Singh’s) being in the reckoning for the top job to rope in new allies, considering Modi’s divisive image, should NDA fail to get a clear majority.
“Atalji had 24 allies, Modi has 25,” the BJP leader said, adding “We are not a divisive party but an inclusive party.”
“The NDA is marching towards a clear majority,” he asserted and added “We can even achieve the 300 mark.” To a query on RSS’ growing influence on BJP, Singh said, “that tradition of a remote control is someone else’s.
You must have read in Sanjaya Baru’s book.” Asked about Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram dubbing Modi as “encounter CM”, he said, “The maximum number of encounters have been under Congress regime.” “Congress has been the most divisive and communal party,” Singh said.
They did not pay heed to Gandhiji’s suggestion to wind up Congress after independence. Now the people will ensure a Congress-free India, he said.
The BJP chief also ridiculed the allegation that his party had spent Rs 10000 crore on its poll campaign.
“We have not appointed Congress as our auditor. They should first bother about the Rs 5.50 lakh crore scams exposed by the CAG,” he said.

Stepping up his attack on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said never before he had seen a person in the race for the country’s top job seeking votes for himself or herself.
“We have seen Prime Ministers like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and now Dr Manmohan Singh. But they never asked people to vote for themselves but for the country. But here is a person who is seeking votes for himself,” Pawar said, addressing an election rally for NCP candidate from North-East Mumbai, Sanjay Dina Patil.
Patil, the sitting MP, is pitted against BJP’s Kirit Somaiya and AAP’s Medha Patkar, among others.
Attributing Gujarat’s development to the previous Chief Ministers of Congress and the “hardworking” people, Pawar claimed the state’s growth rate had declined during Narendra Modi’s tenure.
“Previous Congress Chief Ministers such as Madhavsingh Solanki, Amarsinh Chaudhary and Chimanbhai Patel had done better work than Narendra Modi,” he said.
Narendra Modi was taking the credit for the hard work of ordinary Gujaratis, he said.
“He (Narendra Modi) in his rally in Wardha said that Mahatma Gandhi gave the call of `Quit India’ from there….Luckily, Modi did not say that the call was given at Ahmedabad,” Pawar quipped.