History is witnessed that the European Renaissance` was the result of thinkers, writers and the intellectual class. It seems a similar renaissance is taking place in India ever since the secular fabric of the nation has been tarnished by 'rising intolerance' and 'communal poisoning'.

The movement began with literary genius giving away their most prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards in protest against outrage sparked by the death of fellow writer author M M Kalburgi. The movement got momentum after renowned literary giant, filmmaker and winner of Sahitya Akademi Award, Gulzar supported the movement.

In a statement Gulzar lamented, "We have never witnessed this kind of religious intolerance. I never thought that a situation like this would come where a person's religion is asked before his name. It was never like this."

Shockingly instead of paying heed to Gulzar`s agonizing appeal to cease communal hatred he was mocked as an idiot` and even labeled Anti-national` on the Twitter for his stand against defending secularism!!!

The movement instead of slowing down with such criticism has only became stronger and the latest news is a group of 10 filmmakers including Dibakar Banerjee, who has made hit films like DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY; LOVE, SEX AUR DHOKHA have decided to returned their national awards in support of Film and Television Institute of India students and to protest against the 'rising intolerance' in the country. It may be noted Dibakar Banerjee won the National Award for his film KHOSLA KA GHOSLA (2006).

In a statement Dibakar Banerjee declared, "The stand is not politically motivated. It is motivated from my conscience. We could not think of any better idea than return our national awards because that's all we have."

And that`s not all besides writers, filmmaker`s the movement has been joined by almost 135 academics, who have started a web petition addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee. The signatories include top scientists, IIT professors and JNU academics.

In the petition the intellectual have compared the nation`s plight to a 'nuclear bomb'

The petition reads, "A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality. It can explode any time and drive the nation to utter chaos. This is a highly unstable atmosphere and we should do everything in our hands to defuse the disparity."

We hope our President and Prime Minister understand the seriousness and gravity of the situation and take action before People` movement takes shape.

This article is from Raaga's music blog. Read more at http://blog.raaga.com