Recently Indian cinema celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Chiranjeevi, and power couples Alia Bhatt-Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal-Katrina Kaif, attended the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
The event garnered attention and sparked varied reactions, with notable figures from the film industry, such as Rohit Shetty, Rajkumar Hirani, Ayushmann Khurrana, Madhuri Dixit Nene, and producer Mahaveer Jain, participating in the auspicious occasion.
The star-studded gathering faced criticism from writer Fatima Bhutto, who took to social media to express her disapproval. Sharing an NDTV article about the celebrity presence at the event, she labeled Bollywood as a “craven industry” and condemned the stars for celebrating the destruction of the Babri Masjid, expressing her disdain for their endorsement of what she deemed “hateful politics” associated with the BJP.
She penned down on X,
Bollywood is a craven industry. To see its stars dolled up to celebrate the destruction of the Babri Masjid and clicking selfies to cheer the hateful politics of the BJP is sickening https://t.co/WlwDA2MP5T
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) January 22, 2024
Hema Malini, Rajinikanth, Pawan Kalyan, Shankar Mahadevan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Subhash Ghai, Shefali Shah, Vipul Shah, Randeep Hooda, Lin Laishram, Aadinath Mangeshkar, Anu Malik, and Sonu Nigam were also in attendance. Even those unable to attend in person, such as Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, conveyed their wishes through a video message.
Fatima’s post on X serves as a poignant reminder of the influential role that celebrity endorsements play in shaping public opinion and discourse. Her expression of disapproval highlights the significant impact celebrities can have in spreading messages, whether positive or negative.
She underscores the potential misuse of their influence, pointing out the weight celebrities carry in either promoting unity or inadvertently contributing to divisive narratives, particularly when associated with political ideologies.
The fight for justice in the Babri Masjid demolition case ended on November 9, 2022, exactly three years after the apex court awarded the disputed land where the Mughal-era mosque stood for centuries to Hindus for the construction of a grand Ram temple.
For several Muslims in and outside Ayodhya, the Babri demolition judgment was a moment where they hoped that the court would provide them some solace in the form of justice. However, the criminal act of December 6, 1992, went unpunished by law. Many of the accused went on to become MPs and MLAs with the now-ruling BJP over time.
