Noted Malayalam director Ali Akbar has declared that he is leaving Islam in protest against those who had celebrated the tragic death of CDS General Bipin Rawat. Akbar made the announcement in a video posted on social media on Friday.
Akbar said that he decided to quit Islam after discussing the matter with his wife. “I am throwing away the dress I was born with,” he said. Akbar, 58, who directed more than 20 films, shot into fame as he received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director in the year 1988, the first of its kind in the Malayalam language. Now he is doing a film ‘1921; Puzha Muthal Puzha Varey’, based on the Malabar rebellion and the massacre.
Akbar had posted a video on Facebook criticising those who were indulging in jubilation over the tragic death of Chief Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and his wife in a helicopter crash.
“I am not a Muslim from today onwards. I am an Indian,” the filmmaker said in it. In the clip, he slammed those who put smiley emoticons below the news reports related to the death of General Rawat and said he could not stand with the “anti-nationals” anymore.
Akbar said he will be known as Ram Singh. “Ramasimhan is a person who was killed while adhering to the culture of Kerala… Now Ali Akbar will be called Ram Singh. That’s the best name,” he said.
Ramasimhan, his brother Dayasimhan or Narasimhan, Dayasimhan’s wife Kamala, belonging to a prominent family in Malaparamba, (now in Malappuram district) were murdered on 2nd August 1947, allegedly after their conversion to Hinduism from Islam.
Ali Akbar, who was the state committee member of Bharatiya Janata Party, quit the post in October following some disagreement.
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