Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Adoor Gopalakrishnan and others raised a voice against violence in the name of religion, a BJP leader in Kerala hit out at the renowned auteur, saying he was free to shift to the moon or any other planet if he was unable to tolerate those chanting "Jai Sri Ram".
As the comments by BJP spokesperson B Gopalakrishnan kicked up a controversy, Adoor said their letter voicing concern was neither against the government nor against those chanting 'Jai Sri Ram' but against incidents of lynching using the "chant as a war cry".
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Malayalam film fraternity rallied behind Adoor and condemned the comments. In a Facebook post, the BJP leader said Adoor was a respected filmmaker, but he cannot "insult" the country’s culture.
This being the Ramayana month, which is observed in Kerala from July 17 to August 16, people will chant 'Jai Sri Ram', he said. Adoor said the 'attack' on the minority community does not fit in the matrix of a democratic country.
