It is not the first time that political outfits have decided to resort to jingoism and target a section of society from Pakistan, which has nothing to do with the aggression from across the border.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and others like it and even some other groups choose to target actors, singers and artistes because they are a soft group and cannot retaliate. Plus it is easy to whip up emotions particularly when the atmosphere is already charged up post the attack by Pakistan sponsored terrorists on a military camp in Uri.
Such outfits and groups or even individuals know very well that this is definitely not going to have any impact on Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI or its army brass, which control the reins in that country. More likely than not they would scoff at such threats and also welcome such illogical threats as these would help them to whip up anti-India sentiments among their own countrymen. After all, jingoism is not just the forte of some in India. Such political outfits would also completely ignore the fact that terrorists, who sneak across the border, would also be least concerned about such meaningless retaliatory steps being announced by MNS in Mumbai.
There is no doubt that certain strict steps need to be taken to send a strong message to Pakistan. However, by no stretch of imagination is this threat given to Pakistani actors and singers to quit India one of the required steps. Not that many, including the Maharashtra government, would take the MNS threat seriously, because so far they have been targeting helpless and inconsequential people in the city. Only recently they had targeted roadside vendors hailing from Uttar Pradesh. Serious or not, Maharashtra government does need to take note of it and ensure that there is no undue harassment of Indian tele-serials and film producers by MNS workers.
It is quite difficult to make such political outfits understand that boycotting of Pakistani goods as well as goods made in countries, which support Pakistan, can surely make some difference in the long run. However, this kind of a move cannot help them whip up emotions and it would certainly not help them grab headlines. That is why they choose to focus on the tinsel world. They also hope to get ammo against some Indian actors and others, who would speak in favour of Pakistani actors, singers and sportspersons.
Already there are some who have spoken up in favour of Pakistani actors and others on various social media platforms. It is good that Mumbai police has already responded by telling all foreign (read Pakistani) artistes holding valid documents not to worry. Ignoring such meaningless threats, but ensuring that political outfits do not exploit the situation for their vested interests, is the best way out.
