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Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has said the reinstatement of R R Patil as Maharashtra's home minister, a few days before the anniversary of the terror attack on Mumbai, was the government's way of telling citizens that what they feel is not important.
In an open letter to All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Bhatt said the attitude behind all the political manoeuvring has hurt him.
"It goes to say that I am an idiot and what I feel is not important. He (Patil) said something that hurt us deeply and then was asked to step down and then even before a year is gone, he is back again. That means I am supposed to have a weak memory and I am supposed to forget," Bhatt said.
"R R Patil sits here as the symbol of the impotent rage of a nation. His reinstatement is the government's way of telling us, the citizens, that we and what we feel does not matter. We are cranky children that have to be given a candy when we are complaining to shut us up and then we will wipe our tears and toe the line obediently. It's sad," he wrote.
"We watch the balkanisation of our state with silence and we see the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena play the Marathi card to get the better of the Shiv Sena. We see the violence at the swearing in ceremony and we are embarrassed and we keep quiet," he said.
"Why are we scared that MNS workers will come and beat us up and that we will lose our business and our lives? Is democracy about living in fear? Is that what our forefathers fought the British for? Do you think there is any difference between a man who comes from outside the country to spread terror and the man who stays in this country and spreads terror? Terror is terror," he said.
"Change this Rahul. You can do it, we know this," Bhatt appealed in the letter.
"I am writing to you because you are who I see as the future of this country, you are, I can see a person who wants to make a difference, you are, I can see, someone who gets pained and hurt; you are my generation. You have traveled the world and want to make our country count when it comes to the leading nations of the world, you have lost a lot more to this country than anyone I know, you have seen tragedy both personal and national, you are us, you are the only one we can talk to and think that we would be understood".
"I don't know if this will ever reach you. I hope it does. You are our only hope. I am shooting this arrow into the air and hope that it finds a voice," Bhatt concluded.