Veteran actress Aparna Sen, on Saturday, condemned the West Bengal Urdu Academy for withdrawing its event invitation to Javed Akhtar, calling the act shameful while highlighting the government’s inactivity.
“I have no words strong enough to condemn the action taken by the West Bengal Urdu Academy in banning Mr. Javed Akhtar’s event in Kolkata. The govt. has buckled under pressure from fundamentalists who have called Javed Saab ‘Allah-virodhi!’ Shame on them,” the 79-year-old actress wrote on X.
At the event titled ‘Urdu in Hindi Cinema’, organised by the West Bengal government-run Urdu Academy, Akhtar was invited as the chief guest to preside over a mushaira (poetry recital gathering) recently.
Two religious organisations had reportedly stood against Akhtar’s invitation. Later, the academy said that the event was postponed due to “unavoidable circumstances”.
“I get hate mail from both sides,” Akhtar told The Telegraph Online. “I believe as long as both [(Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists] are abusing me, I am doing something right. My name, Javed Akhtar, has nothing to do with Islam. Both the words are Persian. It is only in India that names are associated with religion.”
A group of Urdu enthusiasts and liberal Muslims wrote a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday, criticising the academy for “bowing to fundamentalists” and withdrawing the invitation.
The letter, signed by Mudar Patherya, Zeeshan Majeed, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Taiyyeb Ahmed Khan, among many others, argued that linking Urdu with “Muslimness” undermines its secular character and reduces the academy to a religious body.
The signatories said the screenwriter’s faith had nothing to do with the subject of his talk — a move that has damaged Kolkata’s liberal image. They warned that such acts set a precedent for groups to pressurise institutions by citing religion.
“From now onwards, it will be usual for any Kolkata organisation of any credibility to issue any protest to achieve any outcome – and get away with it on the grounds that ‘religion is in danger’….your government should have stepped in and directed the West Bengal Urdu Academy to reverse its decision, which it never did,” said the letter.
