I read this saying somewhere in relation to greedy people and it went something like ‘even if you give them everything that they ask for, it will never be enough.’
Forgive me, I am unable to remember the entire line or where it was from, but I believe the recent case of Rak Thackeray and his insipid demand that every Bollywood producer give 5 crore rupees to the Indian army if they have ever worked with a Pakistani actor is an apt time to use this line.
Now let me make it clear in the beginning only, before I get bombarded with hate comments, but it is not the amount or the place where that money is being donated to that I have a problem with.
I would never be against people donating as much as they can to the jawans and military personnel who fight for our the safety and security of us civilians at the border.
But it is the way Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Mr. Thackeray has just declared it as something that must be followed without any protest.
Before this MNS also made a big ruckus about the soon to release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) film, by Karan Johar, all because it has about 5 minutes camera time featuring a Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
Among threats of theatres being attacked if the film was shown and the ban by Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) Karan Johar released a video in a desperate attempt to profess his partriotism and all but said it out loud that ‘please let my film release and not put just me but the many hundreds of Indians that worked on this film in a loss’.
It was really sorry to see that Johar had no other choice but make such a big and public statement.
Now, Thackeray is not even requesting or putting it forth like a suggestion, instead just demanding with such surety that every Bollywood producer who has worked with Pakistani actor to donate 5 crore rupees to the Indian Army Relief Fund.
It this what we have come down to?
Extortion in the name of nationalism?
Although it is truly good to see that personnel from the Indian Army both retired and serving, have spoken up about it and shown their disapproval with this step of Thackeray.
Whether it is former Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur who’s tweets about this topic have gone viral
I served four decades in uniform- and never did I live on extorted money. What’s this happening in my country???? @PMOIndia @manoharparrikar https://t.co/tB2wj4Kxqw
— Manmohan Bahadur (@BahadurManmohan) October 22, 2016
Indian Armed Forces cannot, and SHUD NOT, become crutches 4pol ambitions. Unfortunately, this is the trend seen in recent past. Stay away pl https://t.co/BBkujRETja
— Manmohan Bahadur (@BahadurManmohan) October 22, 2016
or Brigadier Khushal Thakur (retd) a veteran of the Kargil war who was quoted saying “If something is wrong, it is wrong. How can a forced donation of Rs 5 crore make it right? But the bottom line is the army’s name should not be misused for political gain.”
Signing off I would just like to say that, this is just not right. I could understand the ban on Pakistani actor, seeing the relations between India and Pakistan, but this, blatant blackmailing and extortion of money and that too using our very own army as a shield is not something I can condone.
Image Credits: Google Images
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http://edtimes.in/2016/10/lets-ban-adhm-only-if-pm-modi-apologizes-for-his-pak-visit/
http://edtimes.in/2016/04/david-cameron-apologised-for-panama-papers-here-s-how-our-indian-politicians-would-ve-handled-this-scandal/
