Union parliamentary minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday slammed veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, calling him a “dangerous urban Dimagi Naxal”, after he came forward in support of students at Jamia Millia, who have been protesting for the restoration of their union.
Last week, the 76-year-old actor had also come out in support of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students who have staged an indefinite sit-in over violent incidents on the campus. “I thought Naseeruddin Shah was just an ordinary actor. I used to respect & like him.. I never knew that he was a dangerous urban Dimagi Naxal! I discovered his true character far too late. He is extremely detrimental to India’s democracy,” he wrote in a post on X. “First Jawaharlal Nehru University, then Satyajit Ray Film Institute, and now Jamia Millia. The atrocities that are being done on students will be remembered. “The BJP… after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
Rijiju said that he thought Shah was an “ordinary” actor but turned out to be “dangerous urban Dimagi Naxal” and added that Shah is “extremely detrimental to India’s democracy. Everything will be remembered,” he said, quoting Aamir Aziz’s popular poem. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened, and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels,” he had said.
