'Just how long can this hatred be sustained?': Naseeruddin Shah slams climate of fear after Mumbai University disinvites him

Veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah has criticised what he described as a growing climate of intolerance and "thought police" in India after he was disinvited from a university event at the last moment, asking, "Just how long can this hatred be sustained?"

In a recent column published in The Indian Express, Shah said he had been looking forward to attending the Jashn-e-Urdu programme organised by the Urdu department of Mumbai University on 1 February, mainly to interact with students. However, he was informed on the night of 31 January that his presence was no longer required.

"The university, after informing me that I needn't attend (on the night of January 31, and giving no reason for it, forget an apology) obviously considered this not insulting enough. So they decided to rub a little salt in by announcing to the audience that I had refused to be there," he wrote.

Shah said he has long valued engaging with students and described teaching and interacting with young learners as one of the most rewarding aspects of his decades-long career.

"I have been vocal about several other issues because these are things that trouble people like me about the direction in which we seem to be headed, where student activists are held for years without trial but convicted rapists/murderers are frequently granted bail, where cow vigilantes have a free hand to maim and kill, where history is being rewritten and the content of textbooks revised, where even science is being fiddled with, where a Chief Minister, no less, talks of harassing the 'Miyas'. Just how long can this hatred be sustained?"

"For the last 40-odd years, some of the most joyous and educational experiences relating to my work have been with students, at various institutions and even privately. I have tried to participate in their growth, often without success, but never without joy," he wrote.

Reflecting on his own journey, he added, "I can say without qualification that I have gained more by working with students than I have from any teacher of acting."

Addressing the reason reportedly cited for his exclusion, Shah referred to claims by a senior university official that he "openly make statements against the country".

"It's not really surprising they didn't have the courage to state the truth — that I 'openly make statements against the country', (if they were covert, I suppose that would be all right) or, at least, that's what a senior university official reportedly said," he wrote.

"If he's not merely toeing the line and actually believes that statement, I hereby challenge the gentleman in question to produce one single statement of mine in which I run down my country."

Shah said he has been critical of the current political leadership and certain government actions but denied that such criticism amounts to speaking against the country.

"Sure, I have never praised the self-proclaimed 'Vishwaguru'. In fact, I have been critical of the way he conducts himself. His narcissism offends me and I haven't been impressed by a single thing he's done in 10 years," he wrote.

"I have often been critical and continue to be so of many things the ruling dispensation does. I have often lamented the lack of civic sense and consideration for the other in our country."

He also expressed concern over what he described as the direction the country is heading in.

"I have been vocal about several other issues because these are things that trouble people like me about the direction in which we seem to be headed, where student activists are held for years without trial but convicted rapists/murderers are frequently granted bail, where cow vigilantes have a free hand to maim and kill, where history is being rewritten and the content of textbooks revised, where even science is being fiddled with, where a Chief Minister, no less, talks of harassing the 'Miyas'. Just how long can this hatred be sustained?"

Shah said the present environment does not resemble the India he grew up in.

"This is not the country I grew up in and was taught to love. The 'thought police' and 'doublespeak' have been deployed in full force, as has surveillance. The 'two minutes of hate' have turned into 24 hours of hate," he wrote.

"Would it be too far-fetched to equate the situation with George Orwell's 1984, in which not singing the praise of the 'great leader' is considered sedition?"