Is bollywood cozying up to the rhythm of these far right hindu nationalist government lost 2 of the indian Film Industry is best known creative figures. I made the house with the Indian Government targeting of minorities demonstrations against their in their abode these increasingly authoritarian rule have sprung up across india so why is bollywood being so silent indias powerful Film Industry afraid of modi and the b j p ill scream going to job up there and direct to the haitian public but 1st ethiopian Prime Minister ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize and 29000 for ending a decades long conflict with eritrea and introducing long overdue reforms to his country but after cracking down on protesters and dissolving his own Ruling Coalition ethiopia and all of a sliding back into repression and violent conflict this weeks headline a close ally an advisor to the ethiopian Prime Minister. Thank you for joining me up front your Prime Minister ahmed one of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize at the end of the year in which he locked up journalists detained protesters and cut off the internet is that really how Nobel Peace Prize winners are supposed to behave i dont know where you get. There is no any youre noticed in prison now he didnt arrest 5 journalists in sept. But 2019 Amnesty International said the police failed to produce any shred of evidence for their alleged crimes though theres an exaggerated thing now that i mean exaggerated is no single exaggerated means of what there was one i mean to live there in that there is one incident in where fake news has been. Put in a market to incite violence against the groups so what is amnesty is director for east and Southern Africa saying the return of mass arrests of opposition activists and supporters is a worrying signal in ethiopia these sweeping arrests risks undermining the rights to freedom of expression and association ahead of this years allegro this is not happening ethiopia tube is a free everybodys living here now to feel they have to do is make a mistake for. Telling you all that youre not a star out of prison or a Political Prisoners are out of prison be admitting they were not as the robes to these these are the prisoners detained by previous regime or oppositions in peaceful are invited back so the political space is wide and everybodys in the country and they just. Campaigning in different parts and im not questioning that people are campaigning or register im just saying that Human Rights Watch for example has said dozens of ethnic im horrid journalist were held 20000000 team in their report in the country i mean you were on this show 2016 as someone living in exile criticizing the previous government for being repressive authoritarian locking up protestors and journalists and now youre being criticized your government is being criticized for doing the same thing to your irony this government is not doing im not aware of this. And this government is not everything gone and its true about internet blackouts there is no any time the internet was blocked i mean who should people believe well wrote well known well respected people when they had to do for their investigation but i think you do need a result of the internet to check out where the internet in the country is very very very the service is very low their coverage is very low and. But i have not. Come across any incident where into you have a couple of protesters you havent come across to turn journalist you havent come across internet blackouts no thats very convenient given its well documented are you sure its. Not ok im not in any your Prime Minister what a peace prize for ending the decades long conflict with neighboring eritrea and hes been applauded for that by many around the world at home but even in ethiopia the conflicts continue ethnic conflicts the violence is in fact escalated in many places ethiopia has one of the largest internally displaced populations in the world 1600000 people internally displaced fleeing violence thats a pretty massive failure on your governments part as well the displacement has its own cause as you know the top is going through for that means. Or the group that is overthrown who are sponsoring conflicts in different parts of the country so this is a politically motivated. Displacement in order to. Sabotage the transition in the reforms that the Prime Minister was a recorders of a 1000000 people were displaced there were 1st half of 20 only there are still just a political move to embarrass the government of india a 1000000 people it is people that have been people used to live together peacefully this is a politically masterminded. From behind in order to sabotage the 4 isnt the danger is that that structural problem is removed now people are bad through their residence and today now the open if any groups in every part of the country are living together in a very harmonious when i interview a lot of people on the show from Different Countries different Political Parties youve been on the show twice and its interesting interviewing you because you came on the show in a debate with the then member of the european government you were in exile at the time living in the us and if you had said all this stuff there and he your opponent then the government had said well this is all just you trying to make us look bad on the stand your arguments can be used either way i do wonder if you thought you could sound like the previous government i do understand the record of the Prime Minister is clear. The. Clear our Prime Minister peoples our Prime Minister rehabilitated peace with their fear he media did peace between cells and sudan he has and he cant stop labels are being displaced there is only are there he said of the relationship but we. Will from being displaced it is our own country about drugs of thousands of the but the hands the hands. Who is masterminding all this violence is aimed at or is this is your satellite is already in or is the overthrow in leeds ok ok the people who are enjoying privilege for the last 27 years their minds they want to make sure this process is about time you have any evidence of minutes that is very patient i mean you have any evidence for example whats your evidence for that there is there is whats the evidence there is no clear evidence what is it there is little evidence this latest one could say there is a clear ive learned 3 times what is the evidence weapon is being smuggled through because groups you found these weapons to seize for the of course there is a lot of weapons that were for those captured that comes through through the borders and money has been distributed in order this is all very very letter about an attempt on the life of the Prime Minister also was tried in adult so there is people are living in north stone and unturned in order to to to to to prevent it to appear to transit into democracy your party came to power in 2018 and now your Prime Minister ahmed is transforming ethiopias ethnic federal political system some would say without any real electoral mandate hes dissolved the Ruling Coalition he set up this whole new party the Prosperity Party to which your own defense minister has come out and criticized and said there are many dangers to doing these big dramatic changes in a hurry right now so why do it why all this up people it was a natural process to kook up to come up with a party that is unified and the 1000000 children go so its a Party Decision some members a decision the Central Committee decision let me finish executive Committee Decision so it has been done through the party rules and regulations so why did your defense minister say merging this party is not timely and there are many dangers we are in a transition this is borrowed time it is not our time we should focus on maintaining peace and stability why are you not focusing on peace and stability why are you doing these Dangerous Things according to your own defense minister peace and stability is a burning issue theres no question about that ok the Prime Minister liberalize a political space. Oppositions are invited in including those who are in the struggle those who are in prison with lives and now the political space is no danger turning a very if this is not a dangerous move well the changes in ethiopia are very sweeping ok we have to either ok transit ethiopia into democracy otherwise there is no way the other will tell him to start but we have a global audience watching the show there is no any other option i understand our viewers around the world are watching the show they see you Senior Adviser to the office of Prime Minister saying this is a good thing and then they hear the defense minister of your government saying this is not a good thing we should they believe well everybody is entitled to subpoena not really he said your government is really be singing from the same hymn sheet but what he said is what he said is hes not opposing the world hes not opposing the process but is saying maybe things are going so fast ok that is his opinion the current Prime Minister your boss up there has been in power for less than 2 years he was not elected directly to office and in november with just months before this upcoming general election in august he approved all these big changes the dissolution of the Ruling Coalition. Does he have a mandate to do any of this stuff i mean nobody nobody elected him to do any of this to the party it is a party this is but america its european constitution the federal structure no he has not done all it will be in federation of state hes not tampering with the federation hes a federalist the multinational for the nation is a Constitutional Order what is being transform and what is being rebranded is a party going to have a mandate for that you know as a matter that the members have a mandate and the members are doing that suv massive deliberation deliberation has been taking place within the party for a year and your body thanks for joining me out front thank you so much thank you. Attacks on students moblin chings an escalation in hate crimes and the mainstreaming of a hardline brand of hindu nationalism these are all being features of india under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose party lost a key election in delhi this week yet few celebrities have spoken out against modi or the rise in intolerance many of them instead of big supporters of the Prime Minister but today were joined by 2 of the biggest names in bollywood who havent been shy to make their voices heard job it up there is an acclaimed screenwriter songwriter and poet as well as a former member of indias upper house of Parliament Im a host but is one of indias best known film directors and producers whose directed over 50 films since his career began in 1974 java dr marriage but thank you both for joining me on upfront java dr let me start with you how bad actually is the situation in india today in your view in terms of rising nationalism bigotry authoritarianism. If i look around. It is much worse but the fact is in india without it i can see it with. The dark and it is true. And measured but would you agree with that how much is the india that want to tout it secular pluralistic multifaith credentials the india that you and job it grew up in how much of that india is gone do you think well it was called the mother of civilizations it was the land which gave birth to people like now look and the mark of our mission but gandhi and the fact is there were jobs up just said is that it couldnt have been worse and the night is only deepening we have had a real hope just a few days ago where. The the b. G. P. Got a drubbing. That they lost the election to i think it was the party but thats just one little of all measure but you said in the past that fascism is quote alive and well in the land of the mahatma what would you say to critics who say thats hyperbole thats an exaggeration india is a democratic country and theyre in the mode he won his majority last year fair and square well i would say that after the comedian to look away from the thats that explosive silence the muslims of this are my country and not really the muslims even the other minorities have never felt more insecure the feeling now if this used to turn in their face of we become this nigger toot its their privilege but they do india a lot of harm when people are frightened to speak to people why the about whats going to happen next this bad pulling desire to india and the do not want to see it its a tragedy they will have to take stock of the situation and act with urgency with after but mentioned muslims and other minorities and the fear that they have just in the past year alone since modis reelection weve had this citizenship law which for the 1st time in. Duces a religion test for immigrants for refugees from neighboring countries everyone except muslims eligible you have a register of citizens at a sum which is excluded nearly 2000000 people many of the muslims from the citizenship list you have the Supreme Court decision which allows for the building of a hindu tel ball on a disputed religious site the site of a mosque that was destroyed by international all of that in just in the past year is it fair to say that lost limbs in india now feel like theyre in the firing line as a matter of fact as long as. It problem a problem minority not be able to change it is the problem for india and does that come near you can with can can be as chippings dont reach the people. But the enemy then they can be that means the fact is that did this and instead maybe if you were talking not only in motion i mean. Jointly community of people i think you did get the fact that you when you look around the theists. Who. Has been for detention is shrinking back to d. How dear any. Channel then in india dead or polluted to the present regime it was not for 50 years back indeed so let me bring in moshe but here the reality is as you well know that the b j p and the r. S. S. The ideological force behind the b j p the Paramilitary Group that forms a lot of the ideological backbone of the b. G. P. Has been very anti muslim for many decades now and when you look at whats happening in for example here which was indias only muslim majority state before that the government went along and basically broke it up a few months ago and put it under siege you can understand why muslims in india muscles around the world are looking at india and saying what is going on here in terms of islamophobia anti muslim bigotry anti muslim hate especially when you look at for example the situation in kashmir. Well i dont think islamophobia the readers of islam of whom youre blue to the world are plain living the life i think the food is manufactured because i dont think that the average indian is so frightened of a muslim i mean that kind of a fear has been crafted been structured data in india media a person go out do the live child lose are working around the clock to create to create the other they need the other to do to stay in power and to hate the muslim is because it is the lifeline of the b j b thats not been so words are there is institutional bias which has been there since the dawn of time in this is a birth of the nation but now it is needed the mosque is off and they are doing it right and their laws and. Measurements of the mosque is often known or modi won a 2nd term he has escalated his i dont know what you want to call a campaign of dominance of authoritarianism of consolidation of power for his party and for his movement whats interesting about modi is many people here in the United States where i am for example like to compare modi and trump trump doesnt actually believe anything whereas modi is a lifelong ideologue hes been in the r. S. S. Since he was a child how dangerous a leader do you think there are in remote areas thats not simplified the if youd like believing that hitler only he did do that there were Different Things he did but he had committed to germany and he was whatever he did he did only against. Your will and the way you were thought got to everybody and not to the actually mean what you fashion you create an enemy you. Put your own people. In an imaginary theater and that is how you control them at the moment if through all of this that for. People who think their civil rights people are losing their freedom of expression or confident that you need to is president then it is not happening to one community it is not happening to one people do you believe there are modi is a fascist or course he is i mean a chimp dont have guns on their head if i shifted to thinking at this thinking that we are better then at that end what your problem we have it is because of these people the junta you hear it people in all fear. You had a fish. Let me ask you this when it comes to modi and bollywood cloud i want to talk about your industry your bollywood stars congratulating the Prime Minister on his reelection on twitter you have that famous selfie that got so much coverage of a bunch of Bollywood Actors including your daughter alia there claimed actress i believe that they took with modi you have the industrys top stars the harmons and others completely silent on the citizenship bill on kashmir on the attacks on students are you disappointed in some of your fellow artists that they havent taken the kind of stand that you have. Put myself up as a moral and asked them to emulate me who gives me that right but fear is a political who has been used to the dawn of time and we are in the business of entertainment and mass entertainment content is good as you did in the cinema hall has become very wonderful during release time and these guys have the foot soldiers there to play have war with people who dont like to go individually an actor or an actress may want to take a stand and be but he will but then theres a collective interest of the tribe which is why hes around him or her that look good effects the entire unit or it does the project that accruals writing on it so i think that is between really wonderful but the explosive side of this speaks for itself that these people are free to. Speak your mind even if youre completely different to what they are posturing after privately jobber that is pretty indisputable isnt it the bollywood with a few notable exceptions is now basically team modi. No i wanted a bit of action in it too many words for the missing but the fact is that it is the proof that it is this good do all the people that give it him or he would difficult feat that he is and he can many are to his ideology on the air you get what you want to park you doing do good thing lynching is wonderful it should happen more often do they really think that norm and it did good thing then then why have you not seeing it there is a question why do you are not getting what your answer is if it lets get is it purely fear it fear beauty fear fear of losing their careers or fear of or worse than the fear of physical harm because our dog people dont. Refer to the Prime Minister i had known them personally and i know what they think are you disappointed that that they seem to be hypocrites. Now you see you cant have people who become martyrs you know well if theyre dead too ok so let me put this to you after the government hosted a dinner for bollywood stars recently to explain why the citizenship amendment at this controversial act is a good thing to presumably so they could have these bollywood star actors influences messengers you were invited in you didnt go but a lot of people did go how do you push back against that when the government is a little active lot of people dont go dogs who are publicly and actively supporting the president with him on liberty so you have hope or not so you have hope that theres still a lot of people on your side to kind of resist government propaganda as it were no i dont think about it you seem to say definitely that miniscule part of defense and haiti is involved in what is a risk your head of india is one of the biggest hole or ill tell you how 1st of all. Haiti that area. He said i must. Highly that no country can clean it and it lucian or a good fortune. That so thank you because the prophet if it had happened believe me let me also boast but you are one of indias best no directors you directed Something Like 15 films or a household name here we went over the after that that the role of bollywood is exaggerated i mean right now in india you have a bunch of very hyper nationalistic movies being made very movies about the Indian Military about the Indian Nation a lot of people say the bollywood is producing movies which only boost the b j p s message what judge example saying if the movie is a change of issues this mission could have become a pattern that is by no dr to be suitable these are i would love to see the brain who follows me we spoke about a coup existence a pure energy that lit a fire today but yes they do contribute to create an illusion that are the major the major the steam is flowing in on the other side and thats what their limited purpose is but on the ground it think there are other more serious things which as dimeter decide to do a. Particular party would rule us for the americas for actors and actresses because have a very limited role to play in creating the atmospherics yeah i agree. There are given a fair on version of history. Some of them did then. The box office some of them feel so again that could i gave you i have not met that they are given. What you know they would not but dead the fact i must accept it is for you that everything to have been filmed at 10 the theft from the version of right wing version which. So let me ask both of you this question given that youre saying that the Film Industry is producing films that seem to boost the right wing version of what india should look like given youre both saying that some of your colleagues in the industry are afraid afraid to speak out given your both are saying that this government right now in india the Worlds Largest democracy is fascist what hope do you have for the future is there hope for india. Where the man lives in hope and dies of hope and be so that a little where your book a few days ago in delhi i dont think that as long as the in the d. N. A. Of india those who are added to it and i dont think that you can reduce a mission as diverse as this to one another too if you try to impose just one another to on this nation it will rebuild and i dont think any Political Party can do that in the run java after i have an unshakeable belief in indian concepts believed in india and even in india and we have not had you can get who is not sophisticated in modern terms its not a hes a sensible person even sensible people sometimes 53 up to a point but then theyre not that now yeah after if they come back and they said on top i think it is important because we are doing he and and the one who turned the page into per book of history and by me. You get 200 years so the 10 year 15 year that not the end of the word this too shall pass java dr my host but on that note well have to leave it there thank you both so much for joining me on out front thank you thank you thank you very much thats our show us from will be back next week. Business leaders is by no brass power. Business leaders just want to buy no brass power. The us is always of interest the people the rugby world people Pay Attention to focus on now does even a very good get used to the world from here. Or. Hello im Maryam Namazie in london a quick look at the headlines now the u. S. Is saying its reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a Senior Administration official told reporters the weeklong pact is very specific covers all Afghan Forces and if successful could lead to a more pumpkin a deal it follows negotiations in doha in a meeting between the u. S. Secretary of state might and the afghan president bush afghani at the Munich Security Conference earlier on friday at least
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