Filmmaker Aribam Sharma returns Padma Shri award to protest Citizenship Bill

New Delhi, Feb 03: Filmmaker Aribam Shyam Sharma has returned the Padma Shri award he won in 2006 to mark his protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. The 82-year-old made the announcement in Imphal.

Addressing reporters at his Imphal residence this afternoon, renowned film director and composer Syam said the people in Manipur need protection.

Saying that the state has only one or two MPs in a house of 500 plus members, he questioned what voice can the northeast have in Parliament.

The bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to minority people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan such as Hindus, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Sikhs, was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8.

Sharma is popularly known as the Satyajit Ray of Manipur. He was honoured with the Padmashree in 2006.

Sharma's film Ishanou (The Chosen One) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.