To the people of Gujarat,

The voice of democracy seems to have won again. 'Parzania'-a movie focusing on the true story of the turmoil brought into the lives of thousands affected by the Gujarat riots, shall not be screened in theatres across Gujarat, after a political activist attempted self-immolation. The director, producer and actors of the movie - what should we say to you-well too bad, but how did you ever think of taking enough liberty to assume that Indian public was mature enough to rest its judgment on its sensibilities? Did you actually think that a democracy entitles you to freedom of speech and expression so that you can voice worthless emotions like that of compassion, empathy and sorrow over what happened to your brethren living in Gujarat? You thought we would let you do that? Oh, come on you got to be joking! Wasn’t the fate of 'Fanaa' in Gujarat enough to warn you? That one still has us laughing. The distributors of 'Fanaa' actually thought that we would screen their movie despite their lead actor voicing his opinion on 'sensitive' issues, like the Narmada dam. Don't take it personally, Mr. Aamir Khan. We happen to love your movies (haven't missed one in the last 10 years!). But we are the self-appointed protectors of democracy and secularism in the country, and we cannot be setting wrong precedents, can we?

We are ‘dutifully bound to protect' the billion-plus population of this country by wrapping bands of ignorance over their eyes and denying them the right to retrospect over happenings like the Gujarat riots. People say that we should allow retrospection because acknowledgement of a mistake is the first step towards learning from it, and acknowledgement of pain and suffering is the building block of the rehabilitation and healing process. Well, good arguments. But we are 'dutifully bound’, as we told you.

The media and the so-called conscientious citizens pester us by pointing out that Gujarat was the centre of pioneering movements like the Satyagraha, and the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. They ask us how can Gujarat then show intolerance and bigotry? Well, we find this question a little out of relevance. And we choose to answer this by posing a question of our own- to the people of Gujarat and to the people of India, in general. How is it that you remember Satyagraha and Mahatma Gandhi, and you don't remember Graham Staines and his sons, and the Godhra carnage?

After the Godhra incident, people like you created a lot of hullabaloo and so we ordered an inquiry into the incident - a complete waste of time and money if you ask us – but we did it nevertheless. Justices VR Krishna Iyer and PB Sawant—both retired judges of the Supreme Court-- who headed a citizens tribunal into the Gujarat carnage, observed that “the post Godhra carnage was an organized crime perpetuated by the state’s chief minister and his government” and held Gujarat’s CM to be “the chief author and architect of all that happened in Gujarat after the arson of February 27, 2002.”. The National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court of India drew similar conclusions about the head of the state of Gujarat. Well, the report did kind of scare us initially, but we had forgotten how short a memory you, the people of this country, have. You had moved on with your lives, the carnage forgotten and buried under a pile of many more mini Godhras which happen every day. The power of questioning weighed heavily in your favor at that time. But you chose not to exercise it.

You chose to keep silent when Bharat Mandal, a 28 year old farmer in West Bengal, was shot dead by the CPI-M workers for protesting against land acquisition or when the protests following the brutalization and murder of a Dalit family in Khairlanji allowed the Nagpur police to pull out a 55 year old woman and other protestors from their homes and thrash them into silence, or even when a protesting rickshaw driver in Amravati was shot point blank in the head. You could have made your voice heard then, and maybe made a difference. But you chose to look the other way and mumble a quick word of gratitude to the powers above that you were untouched so far, in all this spate of hate and violence.

The Gujarat of Mahatma Gandhi and Satyagraha is a distant memory, dear people. The Gujarat that we have created in the past decade, reeks of intolerance, indifference and inhumanity- and trust us, it's not been easy doing this. Our blood and sweat has gone into the creation of this new state that you see. And now you tell us, this is not what you want? Well, if you decided to keep mum then, what makes you speak today? You say we are violating the fundamentals of democracy. We say that we have redefined democracy. You think that a nationwide protest against reservation should yield results-because in your opinion, that is the voice of democracy. Unfortunately, you have kept silent for too long. Now, the voice of democracy is ours- the self-appointed leaders and protectors of the Indian masses. And that's why, when a handful of us decide that 'Parzania' be shot down, or Graham Staines and his sons be brutally murdered, or that people be burnt alive at Godhra, or that we act as intercessors between you and your God through the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2006, or that hundreds of crores of your hard earned money goes in the mindless changing of names of states when millions in the country survive without 2 square meals a day, that's just how it is. You, dear citizen, are immature and naive. You don't understand what's good and what's not. And so, we have taken the reins in our hand. We decide for you. We rewrite the rules of the game. And you watch, and watch silently. Because your voice has been taken away-with your permission.

Yours truly,

The Elected Imposter