Days after 100 filmmakers, over 200 writers urge citizens to ‘vote out hate politics’

NEW DELHI: Days after 100 filmmakers appeals voters to oust the BJP from power in upcoming ok Sabha election, more than 200 Indian writers on Monday issued an appeal to the citizens to vote out “hate politics”.

The appeal issued in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages highlighted the marginalisation of Dalits, Adivasis and minority communities and said, “we want to safeguard our diversity and let democracy flourish.”

The statement, which was posted on the website of Indian Cultural Forum, read, “The upcoming election finds our country at the crossroads. Our Constitution guarantees all its citizens equal rights, the freedom to eat, pray and live as they choose, freedom of expression and the right to dissent. But in the last few years, we have seen citizens being lynched or assaulted or discriminated against because of their community, caste, gender, or the region they come from.

[also_read url=”https://www.siasat.com/news/over-100-filmmakers-urge-voters-remove-bjp-save-democracy-1482864/”]Over 100 filmmakers urge voters to remove BJP, save democracy[/also_read]

“Hate politics has been used to divide the country; create fear; and exclude more and more people from living as full-fledged citizens. Writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians and other cultural practitioners have been hounded, intimidated, and censored. Anyone who questions the powers-that-be is in danger of being harassed or arrested on false and ridiculous charges.”

The joint petition by 200 authors read, “The first step, the one we can take soon, is to vote out hate politics. Vote out the division of our people; vote out inequality; vote against violence, intimidation and censorship. This is the only way we can vote for an India that renews the promises made by our Constitution. This is why we appeal to all citizens to vote for a diverse and equal India.”

They said that they did not want ‘rationalists, writers and activists to be hounded or assassinated.’ “We want resources and measures for jobs, education, research, healthcare and equal opportunities for all. Most of all, we want to safeguard our diversity and let democracy flourish,” it added.

1 AJ Thomas 71 Gulam Mohammed Sheikh 141 Pradnya Daya Pawar
2 AR Venkatachalapathy 72 HS Shivaprakash 142 Prem Tiwari
3 Abhay Maurya 73 Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar 143 Priya Sarukkai Chabria
4 Adil Jussawalla 74 Hariyash Rai 144 Purushottam Agarwal
5 Ajai Singh 75 Harsh Mander 145 R Unni
6 Akeel Bilgrami 76 Hemant Divate 146 Rahamath Tarikere
7 Ali Javid 77 Hemlata Maheshwar 147 Rahman Abbas
8 Alok Rai 78 Hiralal Rajasthani 148 Rajendra Chenni
9 Amit Chaudhuri 79 Huchangi Prasad 149 Rajendra Rajan
10 Amit Bhaduri 80 Ishrat Syed 150 Rajesh Joshi
11 Amitav Ghosh 81 J Devika 151 Rajiv Ranjan Singh
12 Anand 82 JM Parakh 152 Ramprakash Tripathi
13 Anand Teltumbde 83 Jaidev Taneja 153 Ranjit Hoskote
14 Ananya Vajpeyi 84 Jaishree Misra 154 Raosaheb Kasbe
15 Ania Loomba 85 Jeet Thayil 155 Rakesh Tiwari
16 Anil Joshi 86 Jerry Pinto 156 Ravishankar
17 Anita Nair 87 Joy Mathew 157 Rekha Awasthi
18 Anita Ratnam 88 JV Pawar 158 Ritu Menon
19 Anita Thampi 89 K G Shankara Pillai 159 Robin Ngangom
20 Anjali Purohit 90 K N Panikkar 160 Romila Thapar
21 Anupama HS 91 K Satchidanandan 161 Ruchira Gupta
22 Anuradha Kapur 92 Kalpana Swaminarayan 162 Rukmini Bhaya Nair
23 Anuradha Marwah 93 Kalpana Swaminathan 163 S Joseph
24 Anvar Ali 94 Kavery Nambisan 164 Sachin Ketkar
25 Apoorvanand 95 Keki Daruwalla 165 Saleem Peeradina
26 Arjumand Ara 96 Kiran Nagarkar 166 Salim Yusufji
27 Arjun Dangle 97 KM Shrimali 167 Salma
28 Arun Kamal 98 KP Ramanunni 168 Samik Bandyopadhyay
29 Arunava Sinha 99 Kunal Basu 169 Sanjeev Kaushal
30 Arundhati Roy 100 Kutti Revathi 170 Sanjeev Khandekar
31 Arvind Krishna Mehrotra 101 M Mukundan 171 Sanjeev Kumar
32 Asad Zaidi 102 MMP Singh 172 Sarabjeet Garcha
33 Asghar Wajahat 103 Madhu Bhaduri 173 Satish Alekar
34 Ashok Vajpeyi 104 Makarand Sathe 174 Savitri Rajeevan
35 Ashokan Charuvil 105 Malavika Kapur 175 Sethu
36 Ashwani Kumar 106 Mamang Dai 176 Shafi Shauq
37 Atamjit Singh 107 Mamta Sagar 177 Shailesh Singh
38 B Rajeevan 108 Manash Bhattacharya 178 Shanta Acharya
39 Badri Raina 109 Manasi 179 Shanta Gokhale
40 Bajrang Bihari Tiwari 110 Mangad Ratnakaran 180 Sharankumar Limbale
41 Bali Singh 111 Mangalesh Dabral 181 Sharmila Samant
42 Bama 112 Manishi Jani 182 Shashi Deshpande
43 Basharat Peer 113 Manmohan 183 Shekhar Joshi
44 Benyamin 114 Manoj Kulkarni 184 Shobha Singh
45 Bhasha Singh 115 Manoj Kuroor 185 Shubha
46 Bina Sarkar Ellias 116 Maria Couto 186 Smita Sahay
47 CS Chandrika 117 Meena Kandasamy 187 Srilata K
48 Chaman Lal 118 Megha Pansare 188 Subodh Sarkar
49 Chandradasan 119 Mogalli Ganesh 189 Sudeep Chakravarti
50 Chandrakant Patil 120 Mrinal Pande 190 Sudeshna Banerjee
51 Civic Chandran 121 Mukul Kesavan 191 Sudhanva Deshpande
52 Dalip Kaur Tiwana 122 NS Madhavan 192 Sudhir Chandra
53 Damodar Mauzo 123 NP Hafiz Mohamad 193 Suresh Chabria
54 Datta Damodar Naik 124 Nabaneeta Dev Sen 194 TM Krishna
55 Deepan Sivaraman 125 Nalin Ranjan Singh 195 Tekchand
56 Devdan Chaudhuri 126 Namita Gokhale 196 Udayan Vajpeyi
57 Devendra Chaube 127 Namita Singh 197 Urvashi Butalia
58 Devi Prasad Mishra 128 Nancy Adajania 198 Vaasanthi
59 Dinesh Kumar Shukla 129 Nayantara Sahgal 199 Vanamala Viswanatha
60 E Santhoshkumar 130 Neeraj Singh 200 Vijay Prashad
61 EV Ramakrishnan 131 Nityanand Tiwari 201 Venita Coelho
62 GN Devy 132 Noor Zaheer 202 Vijayalakshmi
63 Gagan Gill 133 Orijit Sen 203 Vinita Agrawal
64 Gauhar Raza 134 P Sivakami 204 Vinitabh
65 Geeta Kapur 135 PN Gopikrishnan 205 Vishnu Nagar
66 Geetanjali Shree 136 PP Ramachandran 206 Vishwanath Tripathi
67 Girdhar Rathi 137 Pankaj Bisht 207 Vivan Sundaram
68 Girish Karnad 138 Paul Zacharia 208 Vivek Shanbhag
69 Githa Hariharan 139 Prabha Varma 209 Volga
70 Govind Prasad 140 Prabodh Parikh 210 Zoya Hasan