Prominent personalities slam rise of "fascist forces" in Bengal

Several prominent personalitiesin the city assembled here on Monday to protest against therise of alleged ''fascist forces'' in Bengal which they said wasevident from chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' at an event to mark thebirth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The event, E Kon Sokal Raater Cheyo Ondhokar (whatkind of a morning is it that is darker than night) wasattended by actor-theatre activist Kaushik Sen, his actor sonRiddhi Sen, painter Suvaprasanna, director Raj Chakraborty,actor Saayoni Ghosh, actor-MP Nusrat Jahan among others.

''Despite having differences with the TrinamoolCongress (TMC), I am here as we all need to come together toregister our protest against the forces which are out tomuzzle our voices, impose their choice on us and thrust theirdivisive ideology of hatred,'' Kaushik Sen said.

Condemning the chanting of 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans atthe government programme to mark the icon's 125th birthanniversary at Victoria Memorial on January 23, Sen said, theincident was ''pre-planned, deplorable, and anothermanifestation of intolerance displayed by these forces''.

''We need to raise our voice against forces which areout to take away our right to protest and freedom of speech.

These forces are spreading the language of hatred in thecountry,'' he said.

Claiming that Monday's protest was triggered by theJanuary 23 incident, Suvaprasanna said, recent incidentsranging from the treatment meted out to Amartya Sen by Visva-Bharati, trolling of actresses, threats to actors for voicingopinions in public forum had also prompted them to cometogether.

Actor Kanchan Mallick said, ''Our protest is againstthe January 23 incident as well as threats on social mediaagainst felllow actors''.

Actor-MP Nusrat Jahan said she was here not as a TMCmember but as a member of the industry.

While alleging that right wing forces were anti-woman,Jahan said, ''they cannot intimidate us''.

A letter by poet Srijato cautioning against rise in''dark forces taking away our right of expression and muzzlingour voice'' was read out on the occasion.

Actor Deboleena Dutta Mukherjee, who had recentlyfaced rape threat on Facebook for mentioning on a TV show thatdespite being a vegetarian she was ready to cook beef, saidthat she will not be cowed down by such threats and coercivetactics by forces which want to impose their diktat on dietaryhabits and freedom of choice of people.