Mani Ratnam has joined 49 other prominent celebrities of India and has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding to put an end the atrocities meted out on minorities especially in Northern India.

The letter dated July 23rd has been signed by luminaries of Indian cinema and other wakes including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, Soumitro Chatterjee, Revathy, Konkona Sen Sharma, Binayak Sen, sociologist Ashis Nandy. and Aparna Sen It reads “We, as peace-loving and proud Indians, are deeply concerned about a number of tragic events that have been happening in recent times in our beloved country. The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions,”.

The letter continues “Jai Shri Ram” has been reduced to a “provocative war cry...You have criticised such lynchings in Parliament Mr. Prime Minister, but that is not enough! What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators?” “Ram is sacred for the majority community, stop defiling the name of Ram. “There is no democracy without dissent. People should not be branded anti-national or urban Naxal and incarcerated because of dissent against the government.