BJP patronises cult of violence, says Yechury after ministers dismiss concerns expressed by celebs

Accusing the BJP of promoting a "cult of violence", CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday slammed the ruling party leaders for dismissing the concerns expressed by 49 eminent people in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over mob violence and incidents of lynching.

In the letter, filmmakers, authors and actors said the lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately and added that there is "no democracy without dissent".

But Union Minister Giriraj Singh dismissed the concerns and said the "award wapsi gang" has become active again to destabilise the Modi government. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asserted Dalits and minorities are safe in the country, and said those "yet to recover from" the Lok Sabha poll defeat are trying to communalise "criminal incidents".

"On being shown the truth of our reality today, all that the government does is to try and deny it. This is because forces patronised by the ruling party themselves, patronise the promotion of such a "cult of violence," Yechury tweeted.

The letter released on Tuesday was signed, by filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aparna Sen, Ketan Mehta, singer Shubha Mudgal, actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Konkona Sen Sharma, historians Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Partha Chatterjee and Ramchandra Guha, writer Amit Chaudhury and others.

The signatories also said the slogan "Jai Shri Ram" has become a "provocative war cry" that leads to law and order problems.