Anirban Bhattacharya, Riddhi Sen, and others condemn the attack on Amit Saha, Arup Khara

The attack on theatre workers Amit Saha and Arup Khnara has been criticised by eminent personalities across the industry. Anirban Bhattacharya, Riddhi Sen, Kaushik Sen, and others registered their protest and condemned the attack.

A few days back, a theatre festival in Beleghata was forcefully cancelled and two members of the theatre group, Amit and his friend were physically heckled. It was alleged that local goons affiliated with the ruling party of the state were behind the incident. Many people protested against this on social media. A protest meeting was arranged on December 28, in front of Sukanta Mancha in Beleghata. Many, including director Pradipta Bhattacharya, were present. Actor Anirban Bhattacharya could not go there. He delivered a statement later, which became viral on social media. He disclosed the time and venue of his next play and said, ‘come and beat me’. In his statement, he referred to the speech of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan at the inauguration of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival. “Amitabh Bachchan’s speech on freedom of speech and Shah Rukh Khan’s criticism of the ugly side of social media was appreciated only 12 days ago at the festival inauguration. Everyone, including those who were on the dais, lauded their advocacy of freedom of thought. Why is it then Amit and Arup are attacked?” he argued. 

Riddhi Sen, Suman Mukhopadhyay, and Sujan Mukhopadhyay supported Anirban's statement. Suman translated a part of Anirban's statement and published it on social media. He also said that such inhuman behaviour towards theatre artists should be immediately stopped. 

Riddhi Sen directly condemned the ruling party and wrote on Facebook, “I ask artists from all over Bengal to come forward in protest of this incident. Let us see how many of us get attacked by the ruling party lumpens.” He targeted artists who are the MLAs and MPs of the ruling party. “They can not act. Let us not talk about their political level. They do not commit to anything. Still, they are the MLAs and MPs like showpieces arranged in a showcase, and those who honestly try to arrange a theatre festival will be beaten. Shame!” His father, eminent theatre personality, Kaushik Sen also condemned the attack in harsh words.

Bidushak Natyamandali had arranged a theatre festival on 24-25 December in the Rasmela playground of Beleghata. To supervise the arrangements, two members of Bidushak, Amit Saha and Arup Khnara went to the playground on 23 December. The local political leaders allegedly beat them and drove them away. It was also told that a cake festival was going on in the playground, and hence no theatre could be staged. Amit Saha made a video and talked about the incident on social media. He said, “Instead of hearing our words, we were physically heckled, and we condemn this.”