FIR against 49 celebs who wrote to PM on mob lynching
Bangladesh Prime Minister says Bangladesh continued to champion regional cooperation with groupings such as BIMSTEC, BBIM, BCIM and SAARC
MUZAFFARPUR/
WAYANAD: An FIR has been lodged in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur against nearly 50 celebrities, including Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Ramchandra Guha for alleged sedition after they wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over growing incidents of mob lynching.
Police said the FIR was lodged on Thursday under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace. Reacting sharply to the registration of the FIR against eminent film personalities, writers and others, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged the country was moving towards becoming an “authoritarian state” where anybody who said anything against Modi or his government was put behind bars.
NEW DELHI: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said that South Asian countries must move beyond the "majority-minority mindset" as pluralism was the strength of the region.
Speaking at a session of the India Economic Summit here, Hasina said that Bangladesh continued to champion regional cooperation with groupings such as BIMSTEC, BBIM, BCIM and SAARC.
“Establishing of connectivity will give a door to us to cooperate with each other,” she said.
Hasina noted that in the past decade, there were many "lofty" regional ideas and initiatives with some succeeding while others failing to deliver.
“In the next decade, we should follow certain principles -- first we must try to secure peace, stability and harmony for every individual across our societies. We must move beyond the majority-minority mindset. Pluralism has been the strength of South Asia,” she said.
Hasina further said that the countries in the region should be able to celebrate South Asia's diversity -- regional, ethnic and linguistic.
"The second is that we must ensure that inequalities across societies do not widen," she said, adding that wealth creation should be inclusive and should reach the bottom strata.
The least developed countries should get priority and the focus should be on mutual trust and respect between all countries, the Bangladeshi prime minister said. "We need to get over misperceptions and false apprehensions," she said, without elaborating.