Vivek Agnihotri reacts to Twitter user who tells him to ‘make The Manipur Files if you are man enough’

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri took to Twitter to respond to a user who asked him to make The Manipur Files, after the success of The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files. The request arrived when Vivek posted about the killing of the Kashmiri Pandits. Recently, he unveiled the trailer for the web series, The Kashmir Files Unreported. Also read: Priyanka Chopra reacts to heinous Manipur video, demands swift justice

Vivek Agnihotri

Referring to the subject of The Kashmir Files Unreported, Vivek tweeted, “Indian judiciary stood and stands blind and mute to Kashmiri Hindu Genocide. It failed and still fails to ‘suo moto’ protect the #RightToLife of Kashmiri Hindus as promised in our constitution.” Replying to the post, a user commented, “Don’t waste time go and make a movie Manipur Files if you are man enough.”

Vivek wrote back to the person, “Thanks for having so much faith in me. Par saari films mujhse hi banwaoge kya yaar? Tumhari ‘Team India’ mein koi ‘man enough’ filmmaker nahin hai kya (But, do you want me to make all the films. Isn’t anyone else not man enough)?”

What’s happening in Manipur?

Ethnic violence began in Manipur in the last two months. It all began on May 3 in Churachandpur town of the state after Kuki groups called for protests against a proposal to grant scheduled tribe status to the Meitei community of the state. It led to clashes among the groups, claiming over 150 lives and left over 50,000 injured.

Recently, a more than two-month-old video from the state went viral which was captured during the violence. It showed two tribal women being paraded naked and molested by a group of men in the state. The video has now gone viral online and sparked massive public outrage.

Vivek Agnihotri on viral video from Manipur

Reacting to the Manipur incident, Vivek had previously penned a heartbreaking poem. He tweeted, “MANIPUR: Moplah, Direct Action Day, Noakhali, Bangladesh, Punjab, Kashmir, Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Bastar and now Manipur… Every time our innocent mothers and sisters become the ultimate victims of inhuman, barbarian acts. As a Bharatiya, as a man, as a human being, I am shattered each time. I am ashamed. I am so guilty for my helplessness.”

His poem read: “O Manipur, I tried… I tried… but I failed. All I can do now is tell their tragic stories through my work. But it’s too late by then. We are all victims of selective and hyper- competitive electoral politics. We are victims of hyper-religion. We are victims of dangerous media. We, the people of Bharat, are victims. There is no #RightToLife in free India. And we can’t do anything about it. This is not the freedom I want. This is not the kind of democracy I want. It’s worth nothing if it makes us bay for each other’s blood. We are a failed society. I am sorry, my sisters. I am sorry, my mothers. I am sorry, Bharat Mata.”