Eminent artistes and academics on Saturday issued an appeal to individuals and political formations to defend the country’s secular fabric and vote against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which they said was a 'corporate-communal alliance'.
“These forces are led by a person who presided over a pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002….And they enjoy the backing of the most powerful corporate houses in the country,’ said the appeal, signed by painters Vivan Sundaram, Arpana Caur, film-makers Saeed Mirza, Kumar Shahani, academics Amiya Bagchi, Prabhat Patnaik, theatrepersons Maya Rao, Anuradha Kapur, historians DN Jha, Irfan Habib, among others.