Days after being targeted for his comments on the growing intolerance in the country by saying that he is “anxious about children’s safety”, Naseeruddin Shah has sparked yet another controversy by claiming that those who demand rights are being locked up. In a video released by human rights organisation Amnesty India, the veteran actor criticises the government alleged "crackdown" on NGOs.

He can be seen saying, "From the beginning, the Constitution's core values aimed at ensuring social, economic and political justice for all Indian citizens. It provided for everyone to have liberty of thought, expression, faith and worship and for everyone to be treated equally."

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Further claiming that artists, actors, scholars and poets, are being stifled and journalists are being silenced, he questioned in the 2.13-minute solidarity video, “Had we dreamt of a country where there is no space for dissent? Where only rich and powerful are heard, and where the poorest and most vulnerable are forever oppressed? Where there once was law, there is now only darkness."

https://twitter.com/AIIndia/status/1081151569100300290

For the unversed, Naseeruddin was hinting at the arrests of five rights activists for their alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon violence of January 1, 2018. The Amnesty video, under the hashtag of #AbkiBaarManavAdhikaar, has claimed that India is witnessing a massive crackdown on freedom of expression.

Earlier, Naseeruddin had raked a controversy in December last when he talked about the growing intolerance in India by referring to killing of a police official in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr.