Vir Das Said That The Entertainment Industry Will Not Stand With The Jamia Students. Reluctantly, We Agree With Him
Here is the thing, 2019 has had a very rocky end for us. In the past month, our political scenario has gone from bad to worse which has resulted in some truly gruesome protests throughout the country. People pan India are taking to the streets to protest the Citizen Amendment Act that was passed by the Rajya Sabha just last week. And while we feel that protesting is one of our rights as citizens of a democratic country, these protests took a very nasty turn when it hit the capital. We have seen this kind of violence before, it has never done anyone any good.
While most of the country was engulfed in violent demonstrations that included burning busses, lathi-charge by the police and teargas bombs, The incident at Jamia University in Delhi was not only brutal but frankly, unnecessary.
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What happened at Jamia Millia Islamia University?
On Sunday, students of JMI decided to do a peaceful march in protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Around 2000 protesters marched the streets in front of the university. After completing the lap, they were asked by the organisers to disperse and return to the campus. But that did not happen since protesters from local colonies also joined them.
According to reports, around 6 pm police teams entered the JMI campus and began firing tear gas bombs into the library building. Students also claimed that the electricity went off and the police teams began beating them up with batons. Some students were also detained in different parts of the university. Around 60 people were injured in this act of police brutality.
This incident raises a lot of questions about our basic rights. Why did the police teams feel the need to fire tear gas bombs, beat up and detain innocent students? Even if they were violently protesting, there are other ways of calming down a protest that does not involve vicious acts like these. After hearing this, I couldn’t help but feel sad at our distorted illusion of “democracy”.
After the JMI incident came to light, many Bollywood actors like Ayushmann Khurana, Parineeti Chopra, Bhumi Pednekar, Siddharth Malhotra and Anurag Kashyap took to social media to extend their support towards the Jamia Milia Islamia students while condemning the acts of the Delhi Police. But many more prominent actors, who wield enough power to sway the mindsets of people, kept shut about this issue.
A large section of the entertainment industry is not going to stand with you, and I'm sorry about that. They're gonna try and make a profitable movie about you someday though.
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) December 16, 2019
Among all that uproar, famed actor/comedian Vir Das’s tweets stood out and a lot of netizens resonated his concerns as well.
He began his series of tweets by saying, “A large section of the entertainment industry is not going to stand with you, and I’m sorry about that. They’re gonna try and make a profitable movie about you someday though.”
I think what Vir is saying is right. The larger section of our industry, including several of our A-listers are quiet about this issue. They should be the ones using their influence to get people to see the situation here. We can only assume they aren’t reaching out to people because they don’t want their hands to get dirty in this political muck. If they did though, I am sure it would be of great help for those students who were wrongly punished here.
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People who peacefully question their government are not 'anti-national'. They're just people. It's not their fault you keep changing the 'national'.
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) December 17, 2019
After this, he also tweeted saying “People who peacefully question their government are not ‘anti-national’. They’re just people. It’s not their fault you keep changing the ‘national’.”
If peaceful protesters are considered “anti-national”, we might as well drop the word “Democratic” from our preamble and replace it with “Fascist” Don’t get wrong, peaceful protesting is our right. This kind of violence played out by the protesters or the police is not.
Many netizens came out in support of Vir’s tweets with thoughts of their own. Check it out!
I guess thats true. The nation is being divided and is burning.. still we have some public figures busy with their own businesses… guess they dont care after all😒
— thewandering_pirate (@Naveen_gulecha) December 17, 2019
I think thats all they can do, and yeah thats all we have to expect from it. Ghar mein bhi badon ki baat maani jaati hai. If all the senior members in the industry dont discuss this, then whats the whole point of trying to have youth follow them in any way???
— thewandering_pirate (@Naveen_gulecha) December 17, 2019
A large section of the society is dead inside. The government has made sure of that. Blindfolded by the hate mongering. They dont even realise that they are played.
— Mr. K (@Kryptonian8006) December 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/Yashchougule11/status/1206551345546715136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1206551345546715136&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fhindi%2Fbollywood%2Fnews%2Fcaaprotest-netizens-resonate-with-vir-das-as-he-says-a-large-section-of-the-entertainment-industry-is-not-going-to-stand-with-you%2Farticleshow%2F72839773.cms
If we want even the slightest chance of a stable political environment, we need to find a better way to deal with issues like the anti-CAA protests. What happened at Jamia Milia Islamia university, is not a solution. In fact, it is unacceptable and we need to ensure that this never happens again. And for that, we need to stand up!
https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/was-justice-really-served-in-the-priyanka-reddy-case-perhaps-in-some-ways-but-we-are-conflicted/
