Time to protest online only over: Farhan Akhtar on citizenship act

Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar on Wednesday said he will be hitting the streets to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act as he believes the time to express outrage on social media alone is over.

The actor took to Twitter to announce that he will be partaking in a protest to be held on Thursday at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai.

"See you on the 19th at August Kranti Maidan, Mumbai. The time to protest on social media alone is over," Farhan said.

The actor also shared an image that sought to explain the ramifications of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizen.

According to the amended act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who had come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, and were facing religious persecution, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

Farhan's response came three days after Delhi Police action against the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday. The police entered the campus after a protest against the Act by the students turned violent.

Many from the film fraternity including his father, veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar, actors Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra, filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap, and Hollywood actor John Cusack expressed solidarity with the youth over the police crackdown inside the campus.

Soon after the post, many Twitter users pointed out a discrepancy in the map of India that the actor shared.

Farhan tweeted again with a statement, saying he does not endorse the map presented on the image, which he had reposted from somewhere and apologised for the oversight on his part.

"I recently posted a message about a protest meeting on December 19th with a repost of a graphic about the meeting. While I stand by the text, I have only just noticed that the map of India on the graphic is inaccurate.

"Every inch and part of Kashmir is a part of India and I reject the inaccurate map. I regret not noticing this earlier. My sincerest apologies for the oversight," the actor said on a statement posted on Twitter.