Hansal Mehta: “I Am Worried For My Family’s Safety”

After Vivek Agnihotri’s frontal attack  on  fellow-filmmaker  Hansal Mehta   where the former has  accused  the latter of  being pro-Muslim  and (therefore) anti-Hindu, Hansal says he  is worried  for his  family’s safety.

In his tirade against  Hansal in an interview given to this  writer, Vivek has even accused Hansal  of being pro-Muslim as his wife is  a Muslim.

The war  of words  between the two filmmakers started  when  Vivek Agnihotri  referred  to Shaheen Bagh as  “an Islamist conversion centre and a hideout for all kinds of criminals like pickpockets, mobile thieves, drug-peddlers” .

Mehta  replied to Agnihotri  with a stinging advice to convert to Islam which has  the Twitter  kingdom in  a state  of outrage. “Unfortunately twitter has become a haven for hate-mongering cowards like you. I sincerely hope you get converted to Islam and you get to understand what the religion really stands for. In fact i wish you’d first understand Hinduism so that you do not continue tarnishing it.”

Reacting with sharp sadness Hansal Mehta  says , “I feel sad that Vivek has reacted this way. Particularly with getting my family into this. Also the context of my tweet and what it was in response to has been totally mutilated in the rabid trolling by establishment stooges including Vivek. And that is precisely the problem. These people have created unrest by twisting narratives and by antagonizing people in the name of religion. I love my work and I love my country. And I am a proud Hindu who respects all religions and totally condemns all this hate-mongering band constant fear that webare being subjected to. Fear and hate have become the new magic trick for people who are not doing their job.”

Hansal  admits he  is  concerned  about the welfare  of his  loved ones. “I do worry about the safety of my family particularly when we are going through such toxic times. Twitter by ignoring threats and allowing all these sponsored trolls who threaten you can be said to be complicit in this. Most of these trolls are nameless, faceless accounts belonging to the IT cell of a political / ideological unit whose job it is to troll, suppress, threaten and abuse dissenting voices. The truth is that these accounts are harmless because most of them are not real people. But the greater danger is from the units that control these robots and who are nothing but terrorists in the guise of spiritual/ideological/political leaders who unfortunately have wrested power from a hapless population.”