MUMBAI: Union minister Piyush Goyal is reportedly invited Bollywood’s top stars and filmmakers to ‘scrumptious dinner’ to discuss the ‘myths and realities’ of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
Notably, the few personalities like Swara Bhasker, Richa Chadha and Zeeshan Ayyub, and directors Anurag Khashyap, Anubhav Sinha who have have condemned police brutality and spoken out firmly against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on public fora were not figure in the list of invitees.
However, the list also includes lyricist Javed Akhtar, his son the director-actor Farhan Akhtar besides Karan Johar, Kabir Khan, Siddharth Roy Kapur among several others.
According to news outletThe Hindu, the meeting is reported to be organised by film presenter and producer Mahavir Jain, who is widely seen as Modi’s man in Bollywood.
Goyal’s invitation of dinner at Mumbai’s Grand Hyatt Hotel on Sunday January 5 has been widely circulated on WhatsApp since January 3.
“The idea behind the meeting is quite inclusive in approach and we request a participation of all the rational thoughts and different points of views pertaining to the Citizenship Amendment Act,” reads the invite message Whatsapped to several Bollywood stars.
“We strongly believe in a healthy discussion around all the possible dimensions of the issue. Your inputs will enlighten the discussion. It will be followed by a scrumptious dinner. Please come over . See you. ?”
Several parts of India have been witnessing violent protests ever since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Parliament.
Following the protests rocking India, an exhaustive list of all the celebrities crawled out of their privilege and unequivocally called the Act out for its discriminatory nature.
However, Bollywood’s top brass: the Khans, the Kapoors, the Bachchans, the Roshans and Karan Johar maintaining a deafening silence.
Excluding Muslims, the Act grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.