Recently a group of 49 film industry signatories that included names like Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Revathi, Konkana Sen Sharma and filmmaker Adoor Balakrishnan among others sent an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi which outlined their concerns regarding the increase in 'communal violence' since 2014, especially against minorities in our country. 

They mentioned that they were "shocked to learn from the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of  convictions." Furthermore the letter highlighted events of crimes based on religion and stated,

"..254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009, and October 29, 2018, where at least 91 persons were killed and 579 were injured (FactChecker.indatabase (October 30, 2018).The Citizen's Religious Hate-Crime Watch recorded that Muslims, (14% of India’s population) were the victims in 62% of cases, and Christians (2% of the population), in 14% of cases. About 90% of these attacks were reported after May 2014, when your government assumed power nationally..."

The letter also stated that the word 'Jai Shri Ram has become a provocative war-cry regrettably' and that anyone who has dissented has been 'branded a anti-national or urban Naxal'. To this, another open letter has been issued by 60 various film industry people which has names like Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, film-makers Vivek Agnihotri and Madhur Bhandarkar  among its signatories.

This rebuttal of a letter has said, "To us, the undersigned, this document of selective outrage comes across as an attempt to foist a FALSE NARRATIVE." It further brands the 49 signatories of the original open letter as "self-styled guardians and conscience keepers of the nation" and ends up condemning the whole letter as some big 'conspiracy'.

"The "open letter" comes across to us as an attempt to mock the mandate of the marginalized, to create a false sense of fear and siege and to try and derail India's march towards collective empowerment of all sections of society. It is clearly an attempt to defame the nation. WE DO CONDEMN the conspiracy."

 

Full versions of both these letters can be found here and here