My Open Letter To Soumyadipta Banerjee, who wants Fawad Khan to go back

Dear Soumyadipta Banerjee ji,

I read your open letter to Fawad Khan and it left me disturbed and also fairly amused. But before I spell out my reasons, let me just tell you that I am not a terror sympathizer. I hate all politicial parties. I hate Burhan Wani. My heart goes out to the families of soldiers who lost their lives in the recent attacks in Kashmir. Those soldiers didn’t deserve to die in such a horrible manner. And revenge must be taken. Telling Fawad to go back is not going to help us achieve anything.

Allow me to explain why. Firstly, Pakistan comprises of a lot of elements – the army, the government, the aam junta, celebrities etc. If the government out there goes wrong (which it does fairly often), the celebrities and eminent figures shouldn’t be punished. Also, the government and the army out there won’t care two hoots if Fawad is kicked out of India. It won’t drill any sense in them.

Soumyadipta ji, you want Fawad to condemn the terror sponsored by Pakistan. Do you think he’ll be spared if he does that? In Pakistan, even the ministers are not spared and have got assassinated in the past for going even slightly against the tide (Google for Shahbaz Bhatti for more). Fir Fawad kya cheez hai? Forget Pakistan, saying anything remotely critical about India or the happenings out here have landed our Bollywood superstars like Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan in trouble. And you expect a celebrity from a terrorist state like Pakistan to speak up?

Also, this brings me to another important point – do you have the guts to condemn our government for goofing up with the Indo-Pak issue? Do you have the guts to write an open letter to Narendra Modi asking him as to what happened to his claims of ‘Pakistan ko ussi ke bhasha mein jawab dena chahiye’ that he made prior to winning the elections? Do you have the guts to write an open letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking him as to what happened to his claims of ‘Border se koi chuha bhi nahin ghus sakta’? Maybe if the government had acted on their own claims, those jawans would not have lost their lives today.

Also, Soumyadipta ji, I’d like to highlight your attention to another important fact that is very conveniently ignored by so-called deshbhakts like you. Have you ever read about the India-Pakistan trade relations? Do you know that Pakistan is one of the largest buyers of cotton from India? And that India buys cement in bulk from Pakistan? There are many other items that land from this side of the border to the other side and vice versa. According to ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations), “Informal and indirect trade between the two countries is worth more than $10 billion” (Check out this link)! India has even given the Most Favoured Nations (MFN) status to Pakistan while Pakistan hasn’t done the same to India! I haven’t seen a single so-called patriot ever sharing these facts and outraging over it, forget demanding the government that trade be stopped between the two countries. It is a known fact that such economic blockade might affect Pakistan more than the ‘Fawad Go Back’ campaign. Additionally, further research on this subject shows that blocking of trade might not be a good idea for India. “Any ban on trade will adversely affect the Indian industry more than the Pakistan as the country exports much more than it imports,” says Nisha Taneja from ICRIER (Click here for the article). So is this the other reason India is not putting any blockade as it doesn’t want the economy to suffer? But coming back to the topic, why no outrage over these issues? When onion prices went through the roof, it’s the Pakistani onions that came to the rescue. Did you, Soumyadipta ji,’ tell the subziwallah, “Bhaiyya, sirf Hindustani pyaaj dena?” If no, then why this selective outrage over Pakistani artistes that won’t lead to any practical solution?

Hence, dear Soumyadipta ji, I urge you to direct your anger where it’ll make an impact. Urge our government to stop the trade if they are actually serious about solving the feud between India and Pakistan. And if you still feel Fawad should be ousted, then urge the government to give in writing that we cannot hire Pakistani talent. Your anger should be towards the government and it’s ways of solving the issue. Sadly, in our country, our anger always gets displaced. Katrina Kaif gets ridiculed for ‘winning’ the Smita Patil Memorial Award but no word is spoken against the organizers who thought of giving her this ‘honour’. In fact, I am planning to start a Yash Chopra Memorial Award and honour KRK with it. Then I’ll sit back and enjoy as KRK gets gaalis while nobody would raise a finger against me! But coming back to the core issue, please do ponder over my words. I love my country as much as you do. I hope this letter is taken in the right spirit, if it ever reaches you! And apologies if any of my words have hurt you.

Yours Truly,
Fenil Seta