Bollywood celebrities like Rishi Kapoor, Boman Irani, Anurag Kashyap and Sonakshi Sinha have condemned the Haryana Police’s decision to arrest actor Kiku Sharda following a complaint that he spoofed Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda sect. Sharda was accused of hurting religious sentiments of the chief’s followers and was sent to judicial custody for 14 days, but later released on bail after his apologies. Some netizens even criticised the Maharashtra Police and Chief Minister for not ordering a probe on this issue.
On the other hand, actor Anupam Kher who had earlier led a march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for protesting against the voices being raised over “intolerance” in the country remained silent on Kiku’s arrest. Mr. Kher, Madhur Bhandarkar and Vasudev Kamath were among 11 members who had handed over a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee. They grabbed headlines by stating that there is no intolerance in this country. The memorandum was signed by 90 public figures, including Kamal Haasan, Shekhar Kapur, Vidya Balan, Raveena Tandon and Vivek Oberoi besides, authors, former judges and musicians. However, these BJP’s supporters in film industry keep quite over the comedian’s arrest.
In 2007, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was accused by several Sikh organisations for dressing like the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. While he had apologised to the Akal Takht then, his apology was rejected. A case was also registered against him. A district court had last year dismissed the case. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders said that pardon was granted to the Dera chief to send out a message of religious tolerance. Unfortunately, his own followers became intolerant when a comedian mocked up him.
Kapil Sharma appealed to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh “Insaan” to appear in front of the media with regard to this matter and present a beautiful example of kindness by defending an actor, who only spreads happiness through his acting. He also asked him to join hands and work for promoting peace and happiness together. Nevertheless, Gurmeet Ram Rahim turned a deaf ear towards it.
The veteran actor Rishi Kapoor doesn’t bat an eyelid before commenting on an issue he feels about. While some are uncalled for, there are certain tweets that are quite apt. Like for instance, Kapoor’s tweet about Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Kapoor’s tweet came as a reaction to the arrest of actor Kiku Sharda. Rishi Kapoor is not the only celebrity to speak against the arrest. Farah Khan, Kapil Sharma, Ranvir Shorey and others have also spoken about against the arrest.
