Mumbai: The Hindi film fraternity on Sunday came together to oppose the gag order on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.
The signature campaign initiated by MNS received support from actors Nana Patekar and Shreyas Talpade, producer Sajid Nadiadwala, director Sajid Khan, writer Subhash Bhende and MLA Shalinitai Patil. Personalities from literature and other streams have also opposed the gag order.
Marathi theatre and film personalities including Ashok Saraf, Bharat Jadhav, Atul Parchure, Sandeep Kulkarni, Prashant Damle, Mohan Joshi and others have also opposed the police order on Thackeray, a press release said.
In a letter, Patekar said that Thackeray had raised an “important” issue. “There may be a difference of opinion about the manner in which Raj has raised the issue,” he said in the letter. “But there is no doubt about the importance of the issue he has raised,” he added.
“If the son-of-the-soil concept is wrong, then the formation of states on linguistic basis should also be questioned. To what extent can one bear the insult on his culture and people?” Patekar asked in the letter.
Over five lakh signatures have been collected in support of Thackeray during a signature rally conducted in Maharashtra, MNS spokesperson Shirish Parkar said in a statement.
Thackeray had made inflammatory statements against north Indians, which resulted in incidents of violence across Maharashtra last month.
The city police had imposed a prohibitory order against Thackeray on February 11 preventing him from addressing public rallies or press conferences.
The order was later extended till March 3, and was upheld by the Bombay High Court despite Thackeray challenging it.
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