Tag: deepika at JNU

The Language of Deepika Padukone

Padukone taught a masterclass in body language when she went out on a limb and visited the JNU campus to express her solidarity with the students and faculty.

In 2007, when Deepika Padukone made her debut in the Hindi film industry, she was already well-versed in multiple languages, but had yet to learn Hindi – or at least learn it well enough to be able to speak it. For what use is a lexicon and competence if one cannot – or upon occasion, will not – use it to prove something to others?

Like I said before, the actress already spoke several languages, one of which is a rather universal tongue: body language.

As a model, an actor, a public personality, as a figure well-known from radiant toothpaste commercials and other endorsements, even a relatively inexperienced Padukone knew how to sit, walk, smile, listen and how to answer questions.

Thirteen years later, in 2020, I would say she taught a masterclass in body language when she went out on a limb and visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in the aftermath of a vicious and unprecedented attack on students and faculty members.

I would say that because I don’t believe the term “body language” should subscribe only to the contextual meaning that is popularly conferred upon it – relegating it to useful tips for a successful interview or checklists to ensure a romantic partner isn’t put off.

The body speaks every single moment of every day, it has its own lexicon and brings with it its own competence, it possesses a separate weaponry whose capabilities we are alternatively unaware and hyperaware of. When Padukone consciously chose to drive out to the JNU campus, she must certainly have been hyperaware of her body’s – and thereby her mind’s – decision.

Also read: Deepika Padukone’s Silent Presence at JNU Protests Will Change the Game

I, as a layperson, cannot fathom appropriately the weight of this cranial – and therefore physical – hyperactivity that must have plagued her person. Could there have been moments in the journey to the campus, several pressing urges, to ask her driver to stop and turn around? A secretary could easily, almost mechanically, have conjured up an excuse.

This is, after all, a notoriously in-demand film star that we are talking about.

In any case, the driver didn’t turn the car around and the secretary did not place a few quick phone calls. Padukone visited the campus, stood amidst the students gathered outside the administration block, silently observed the ongoings, responded appropriately when spotted and greeted, and then left after some time.

What is particularly sad for me as an Indian who follows actors and filmmakers from other countries, is the fact that I – along with other Indians like myself – have to make a hero out of an actor who chooses to do something we’re all expected to do when we know a language masterfully well: speak it, use it.

What Padukone did was not a heroic act, not when I take a step back and approach it with what I can perhaps call a global skepticism. But in India, yes, it was heroic. It was an act deserving of honourable mention at the Ramon Magsasay Awards. It was unbelievable, it made us fear for her life (all over again), and most importantly, it made us look at her industry colleagues and then in turn at ourselves.

In a recent post, a friend of mine stated that she didn’t believe actors and media personalities were obligated in any way to take a stance. I found myself concurring. Nobody should be made to feel obliged to take a stance in situations like the one we currently find ourselves in. It could lead to forced expressions of solidarity among other inauthentic decisions, and as a use of our aforementioned language skills, it would then not have the desired effect.

But what my friend put in words was applicable mostly to those industry colleagues of Padukone, people who were by then being called upon – and called out – by several social media users to speak up, use their voice, express a much-needed, if inauthentic, solidarity.

Their ordinarily resounding voices, now silent, were like pointed forks being dragged across glass crockery. But at the end of the day, I had to look at it as a rather mathematical imbalance: thousands of lay people – students, writers, professors, white-collar workers, homeowners, and others – were struggling to publish their voices and educate as many people as possible. And on the other hand, we had these celebrated media personalities with a billion straining ears glued to their fortified main doors, dying to catch a whisper.

It was simply not to be.

All of these colleagues speak all the same languages as Padukone. They speak Hindi, and they speak English. Sometimes, they speak other languages as well. But this particular competence, of letting your actions do the proverbial speaking, is rare amongst these talented stalwarts. And outside of all idealistic formulations, no one in India would be doing the right thing by criticising these silently twinkling stars for not, let’s say, shining bright (and loud).

These critics would have been ordinarily right – I too would have seen myself and acted as one, but what is unfolding in India is a textbook example of fascist structures razing the landscape of our ‘nation’. I say textbook because I do believe we – like the Germans – are going to make it to the textbooks in another 20 years or so.

And I put nation in quotation marks because I do not believe we are – or have ever successfully been – a nation. A subcontinent, yes. A burgeoning and incredible landmass, most definitely. But one single country? No. And to expect someone – anyone, really, but specifically someone well-known – to take a stance against fascism requires thought and consideration. And reconsideration.

Did Padukone take a stance against fascism? I believe she did. And I believe outside of her visit to the JNU campus, she wasn’t alone in doing so. There has been a meagre sprinkling of others like her, voices we all were quiveringly grateful to hear. But it’s this particular visit of hers that made me think of body language, of the state’s elaborate and lathi-wielding machinery to stifle these speaking bodies and mute their competent language, and of the ways in which we negotiate with silence. How we are constantly arriving at outcome-based decisions, how our consequentialist thinking is depressing but at the same time set firmly in a rationality with which I, at the very least, continue to sympathise.

The comedian Sorabh Pant had this memorable line to say about witnesses in the Nitish Katara murder case backing out faster than sports cars in the Fast and Furious franchise: “You don’t want to be a witness…to your own death.”

Articles in financial newspapers and magazines are already predicting that endorsement deals and other ancillary offers will not be presenting themselves at Padukone’s doorstep anytime in the near future. Some have diagnosed her recently-opened film Chhapaak with disappointing numbers and are attributing it to her JNU visit, which she made only a few days before the film released.

Also read: Who’s Afraid of the University?

The expected onslaught of imbecilic comments has been received by the actress with an expected amount of dignity and composure. But the thing to note is that Deepika Padukone is no newcomer to perceived losses of dignity and composure. She let the whole nation know, a few years ago, how cripplingly unable her clinical depression had made her, how much she had to struggle in this country to even begin to understand why she, as a human, was experiencing what are essentially uniquely human emotions.

Because that is what our society is invested in: it separates us from our bodies and makes them unrecognisable, it obfuscates all possibilities of resolution and leaves us perpetually at the mouth of a black hole, screaming for help. And scream she did. Thankfully, she got the help she needed. She was able to get it.

But for an actress of her fame and ranking (and nationality) to recount how she used to go to her trailer to cry in between scenes is telling. It tells us something about this actor. It tells me that she is unafraid to let people know that she can successfully walk the tightrope, people who form a booing, misogynistic crowd beneath her, threatening not just to let her but make her fall.

Like I said before, I hate to be doing this. I hate to be glorifying an act as simply stated as Padukone’s. But it needs to be done. I’m a student of the German language and I recently assigned myself the task of writing about what’s going on in India right now. Understandably, there were many words and phrases that required careful and head-scratching translation. The peat bog of terminology in which we are trying unsuccessfully to swim is overwhelming in any language – and German – was no exception.

It made me think of a time in the future when this language would no longer be overwhelming, when it would be daily parlance, when it would be policy, when we would have to pat our pockets for our papers like we do for our wallets.

And in the meanwhile, I decided to use my language, just as – but not really in the same way as – Deepika Padukone decided to use hers.

M.S. Palekar is a student of English and German literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Featured image credit: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui

After Deepika Padukone JNU Visit, Smriti Irani Sees Actor Backing India’s Destruction

The filing of sedition charges against JNU students in 2016 based on uncorroborated allegations had taken place during Irani’s regime as Union Human Resource Development minister.  

New Delhi: In her earlier avatar as HRD minster, Smriti Irani had put the Modi government on a collision course with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. And on Friday she returned to the subject by suggesting Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone and the students she appeared alongside with on campus in support of those recently beaten by masked assailants were out to destroy India.

Irani’s stint as education minister produced the phrase ‘tukde tukde gang’ based on the as-yet-unproven charge that key student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar – who were arrested and charged with sedition – had called for the break-up of India.

Four years on, Irani recycled the ‘tukde tukde’ phrase to take a swipe at Padukone, whose presence at a solidarity meeting on January 7 that was addressed by Kanhaiya and others has triggered not just praise for the actor but a huge outpouring of support for the university’s students.

At an event in Chennai, Irani, who is now Union textiles minister said that Padukone’s support for the Congress party – which she claimed she had made apparent in 2011 – had been known all along and that “anybody who has read the news” knew who she would support.

Irani was ostensibly referring to the political polarisation which has taken place over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the prospect of a nationwide National Register of Citizens which is pitting  students, Muslims, Dalits, people in the North-East and elsewhere and activists of various backgrounds, against the government, the BJP and its supporters.

While the CAA-NRC has triggered protests across the country, the attack by masked rightwing activists at JNU on January 5 took place in reaction to the movement against the hike in the university’s hostel fees. However, protests against the JNU attack have now been subsumed by the larger movement against the CAA-NRC, which received a big fillip when the Bollywood actor visited JNU.

Also read: Skill India Puts Promotional Video Starring Deepika Padukone on ‘Hold’, Says Report

Padukone has since been on the receiving end of severe criticism from BJP eaders, who have even called for a boycott of her new film, Chhapaak. A 2011 interview of Padukone’s has also been circulated, where she is reportedly heard saying that her choice for the prime ministerial candidate is Rahul Gandhi.

“She made her political affiliation known in 2011 that she supports the Congress party. If people are surprised by this, it is because they didn’t know. There were a lot of admirers of hers who have just discovered her position,” she was quoted by The New Indian Express as having said. Irani had made the comments at an event organised by the newspaper.

“It’s her right (to) stand next to people who say Bharat tere tukde honge,” the Union minister was quoted by NDTV as having further added.

This was not her only criticism of the JNU ilk.

“She sided with people who hit girls on their private parts with lathis. I can’t deny her that right,” she said, also adding that Padukone had voiced support for people who “celebrate when a CRPF jawan is killed” and who “supported a terrorist.”

By the latter, Irani was ostensibly referring to Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013, for his involvement in the 2001 parliament attack. An event held at JNU in 2016 on the anniversary of Afzal Guru’s execution  kickstarted the Centre’s involvement in the university, by pushing youth leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others into a legal quagmire complete with sedition charges based on a doctored video and also opening the narrative of its students being ‘anti-national’. The police attack on JNU had taken place during Irani’s regime as HRD minister.

Irani is not the only politician of the BJP to criticise Deepika, but she is the highest ranking. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar however, struck a different note, saying it was an artiste’s right to join any protest.

In the aftermath of the JNU attack, Irani had said on Monday that she hoped that students would not be used as political tools.

“I had said it earlier and reiterating it now that educational institutions should not be made rajiniti ka akhada (political battlefield) as it affects the life and progress of our students,” Irani told reporters, adding that she would not like to comment on matters undergoing probe.

Skill India Puts Promotional Video Starring Deepika Padukone on ‘Hold’, Says Report

The report comes mere days after the actor joined protests at JNU against violence perpetrated on campus against students and teachers by rightwing groups.

New Delhi: A promotional video featuring actor Deepika Padukone on behalf of the government’s Skill India campaign has been ‘abruptly dropped’, ThePrint reported a senior official in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as having said.

The news portal also quoted the ministry as having officially said that the video, which has Padukone speaking on acid attack survivors in addition to Skill India, was being ‘evaluated’.

Skill India was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 and aims to equip nearly 40 crore people with various skills by 2022.

The report comes mere days after the actor joined protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University against violence perpetrated on campus against students and teachers by rightwing groups.

Also read: Deepika Padukone’s Silent Presence at JNU Protests Will Change the Game

The show of solidarity by Padukone – one of the biggest Bollywood names to join the recent protests – led the rightwing to unleash a volley of abuses at her and call for the boycott of her new release, Chhapaak. Many, purportedly belonging to the BJP ‘IT cell’, shared the same alleged screenshot claiming it showed that their tickets for the film were cancelled.

The film is based on the experiences of an acid attack survivor. The Skill India video would have acted as a promotional for the film; the ministry had also facilitated a meeting between Padukone and acid attack survivors.

To ThePrint, the ministry reportedly said that the video had been sent by Padukone’s ‘team’ and would thus require its evaluation. The unnamed senior official, however, said, it was “being circulated in the Shram Shakti Bhawan too. But after (Tuesday’s) chain of events, the video was abruptly dropped.”

The report also cited the example of actors Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma who had done promotional videos for Skill India ahead of the release of their film Sui Dhaaga: Made in India.

Speculation had been rife as to whether Padukone’s appearance at JNU had been motivated by her film’s promotional needs. Several, however, noted on social media that the actor was aware of the possibility of a reduction in ticket sales that taking a political stand would mean at such a time. Social media users were quick to point out that Padukone knew the effects of a multitude baying for an actor’s blood when controversy had raged over her last release Padmavaat.

The film Chhapaak, meanwhile, has been exempted of taxes in the Congress-ruled states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

Watch | What Deepika Padukone’s Presence at JNU Means

The Wire’s senior editor Arfa Khanam Sherwani argues that it has become imperative for Bollywood A-Stars to speak on the current political climate in India.

After Deepika Padukone met with JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, there was a mixed public reaction. While some people are saluting her integrity, some are calling for a boycott of her upcoming film Chhapaak. The Wire‘s senior editor Arfa Khanam Sherwani argues why has it become imperative for Bollywood A-Stars to speak on the current political climate in India.

Deepika Padukone’s Silent Presence at JNU Protests Will Change the Game

Knowing there could be consequences, Padukone still stood up to be counted.

It would be a mistake to look at Deepika Padukone’s presence at a student protest in JNU as yet another celebrity photo-op.

While it is the stuff that the media loves – and the film industry has been largely reticent about making any public statement on issues of the day – Padukone’s gesture has resonance far beyond the mere fact of her showing up at JNU. 

The student protests, organic and self-driven, don’t necessarily need any celebrity endorsement. Nor is direct mainstream political support required.

The anti-CAA and NRC demonstrations were citizen fuelled and led, and the outburst of student rage all over India’s campuses, after the events at JNU too was spontaneous. So, had Padukone not come one winter evening to JNU it wouldn’t have mattered.

But that she did, comes as a huge boost, not the least because it sharply focuses media and therefore public attention on the issue.

But by coming, she has added an extra dimension to the rising anger not just among students, but Indians at large, about what is going on in the country.

By not saying a word, but just greeting the injured president of the JNU students’ union, who was beaten up by masked storm troopers, she has been more eloquent than if she had given a soundbite to television reporters. To think of it as a publicity stunt because she has a movie releasing on Friday is silly, because that is just the time when she, normally, would stay away from anything remotely controversial.

Deepika Padukone greets JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh. Photo: Twitter

Producers don’t like their stars to be involved in anything contentious at any time, and definitely not on the eve of a film release—there is too much at stake. Yet, that is exactly when she has done it. 

The significance in her public appearance and show of support lies in three things.

First, she is the only A-lister from Bollywood to come out in the open at a time when others have remained silent.

There have been notable exceptions, such as Richa Chaddha, Swara Bhasker, and Anuraag Kashyap, who have expressed their views against the government after the passing of the Citizens Amendment Act and now, at the violence against students inside JNU, and that is admirable, but their star wattage does not compare to Deepika’s.

All of them have been vocal in the past too, mostly on social media, and their views are well known. The other big names have been silent, even when there was a clamour for Shah Rukh Khan to speak up after the police charged inside his alma mater Jamia Millia Islamia. 

Second, the surprise factor.

Deepika was not one of those names that would come up whenever there was any discussion on the silence of the stars. This gender stereotyping is a harsh reality even in these times — there was criticism of the Khans and of Amitabh Bachchan, as if they are the only representatives of the vast film industry. In the film business, the women are seen as glamorous appendages to the heroes and this sentiment is echoed elsewhere too — they are not supposed to have an independent opinion, and certainly not on political and public issues.

Also read: Piyush Goyal Invites Bollywood Celebs to ‘Scrumptious Dinner’ Over CAA Dialogue

Thus, Padukone came out of the left field, as it were, shocking everyone.

This adds to the potency of her action. No one ever expected she, of all people, glamorous and not particularly known for public utterances on any major issue of the day, would do something like this. True, she had once spoken about depression, and was hailed for it, but this is hardly the same thing. That she could be a thinking person, concerned about what is happening around her, has never struck anyone.

The big lesson is that pre-conceived notions are usually mistaken.

Finally, what she has done will now put pressure on her colleagues. It is not merely that they have been upstaged – no one, and certainly not a celebrity, likes that – but also that they cannot now remain quiet.

No one is about to rush to the next protest, that is for sure, but one way or the other, they will have to take a stand. Whether the CAA-NRC or violent raids on campuses, it is clear that the country is moving in a dangerous and incendiary direction. We have a government that is intolerant of dissent and is bent on marginalising the minorities and polarising the country. Communalism is on the rise and has official blessings. 

With students leading the way and ordinary citizens coming out on the streets, can well known people, whose voice carry weight, afford to remain quiet?

One might point to the silence of his business peers after Rahul Bajaj spoke of intolerance at a public event, and it is more than possible that other Bollywood A-listers will refuse to come out of their shell now, but that will mark them as cowards who portray tough guys on the screen but wimp out in reality.

The BJP loves Bollywood — Narendra Modi regularly meets stars and ensures that their photographs are made public. The party has its supporters, including among the A-listers, even if none of them turned up at the dinner hosted by Piyush Goyal to clarify the government’s stand on CAA.

PM Narendra Modi with a host of Bollywood actors. Photo: Instagram/Karan Johar

But with Padukone demonstrating where her sympathies lie, others with similar views will feel compelled to do something to dispel the notion that they could be with the government. 

One of the usual excuses trotted out by and on behalf of big names, whether in the corporate sector or the film industry, is that by criticising the government, they have a lot to lose. That their companies could be raided or their films could be stopped from being released.

That would be a financial loss many people would have to bear. That this is India, not Hollywood, where stars can lacerate Trump without worrying about a backlash.

This is true, but only partly. The government can be vengeful, as we have seen, and public displays of disaffection could have severe financial impact — Aamir Khan lost a big endorsement after a comment about how his family was worried about rising intolerance. 

But then, that should apply to students too, whose careers could be jeopardised because they take part in protests. Their parents could face harassment. Yet, it hasn’t stopped students from public protests; nor have brave government servants like Kannan Gopinathan, aware that they could face enquiries even after resigning.

Also read: On His Way to CAA Protest, Kannan Gopinathan Detained by UP Police

In the Karnataka or Tamil Nadu film industry, there are several stars such as Prakash Raj, Siddharth and of course Kamal Haasan, who have openly stood up to the government.

And now Deepika has shown the way.

It is almost certain that she will pay a cost – personal and professional — for what she has done. For the moment, it is only bogus bogs who have apparently cancelled their tickets to see her new film Chhapaak. The usual trolls have gone after her.

Minister Prakash Javadekar has played down her presence at the protests, saying she has a right to criticise (a significant shift from the past), though that could change and we may never hear of it. 

Knowing there could be consequences, Deepika Padukone has still stood up to be counted.

It may yet inspire others to do the same, or it may not. Either way, it is a big and memorable moment that will have a far reaching impact.

JNU and the Pathology of the Right

Surya Prakash, a visually-impaired MPhil scholar of Sanskrit, has a swollen left arm from the beatings with steel rods he received during Sunday’s attack on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, attributed to ABVP-led assailants.

The reason he was attacked, Prakash says, was the image of B.R. Ambedkar on the door of his hostel room.

The attacks in JNU on January 5 were unprecedented, but the response to those dastardly attacks will go down in history if this nation is to be saved from the fangs of fascism. Soon after the attacks – which included chasing down girl students to their hostels with acid, and pelting stones at the faculty – students and faculty gathered the next day for a protest march, one where even a mainstream actress like Deepika Padukone did not hesitate to identify herself.

Also read: Living Through JNU’s ‘Bloody Sunday’: A University in Grave Crisis

The real scare was not the macabre attack, but the utter lack of logic. Why was JNU attacked? A university that was protesting against fee high can be detested because the current dispensation is interested in privatising higher education, the ideology of the place can be resisted, the faculty can be despised. To organise a pogrom against them for three hours by letting loose hoodlums makes little sense.

In its inexplicability lies the explanation. Only when violence has no reason does it create real panic. Peaceful protests in JNU could be dealt with politically in many ways, but by letting loose mayhem, the government lost its case. But what it sought to win in its pathological justification is to generate a rare kind of fear that it thought would rub off on the rest of India.

In organising an attack when it was least warranted, the attack and violence go beyond all possible explanation, and that’s the source for fear – a fear that can last for long and bring rich political and electoral dividends.

This precisely was perhaps the calculation of the university’s Vice Chancellor and the home ministry.

Students stage a protest at the main gate of JNU over Sunday’s violence on Monday, January 6, 2020. Photo: PTI/Atul Yadav

To add insult to injury, the JNU VC M. Jagadish Kumar on January 7 issued a statement asking everyone concerned to forget about what happened  to move on and begin the process of online registration.

This reminds one of Prime Minster Narendra Modi wishing Kashmiris on Eid soon after the scrapping of Article 370 – a whiff of sadism that they feel will resonate with many Hindus.

With elections round the corner in Delhi, they feel this is a crisis that might pay them back. Most governments wish to gain the support of the electorates by resolving a crisis, but Modi’s government has always stood out in its attempts to gain support by creating a crisis where none existed.

In earlier elections in Delhi in 2015, the BJP triggered violence between Dalits and Muslims in Trilokpuri, and organised attacks on churches.

Also read: ‘They Were Banging the Door With an Iron Rack’: Students, Teachers Describe JNU Violence

It must be unprecedented that a university becomes a rallying point for electoral discourse. But the university in focus, even if its reach is limited, represents an alternative worldview. A government that has the kind of popularity that Modi seems to enjoy would have ideally ignored this, but Modi-Shah, backed by the RSS, feel that this is the time when they cannot afford to be lenient. Instead, they have to compulsively treat every opponent as an enemy and every possible site as an enemy territory.

When the protest meeting was taking place in JNU on the evening of January 7, a drone hovered above, taking pictures. This is generally used as a counter-insurgency tactic.

When the hoodlums were let loose, what was obvious was the proportion of violence they were capable of and how much the pathological politics of the right-RSS-BJP combine is dependent on demonstrating and taking pride in such dastardly methods.

It represented a nationalism that suffers from self-arrogating a sense of ownership but lacks the compassion of belonging – a narrative that found its resonance in the defective personality of the present VC, who not only lacks compassion but can also be ruthless with anyone who dares to differ.

It is in this ruthlessness that he and the brand of politics he represents find their real essence because outside of it is a long shadow of loneliness and a simmering feeling of worthlessness – a feeling that society has collectively failed to elevate them from.

Also read: JNU Violence Stirs Protest Waves From Pondicherry to Oxford Campuses

The real ‘crisis’ of JNU is its resoluteness – the university seems to compulsively jump back to life when faced with odds. This energy comes from the fact that its very functioning in its day-to-day workings is based on odds. It faces the challenges of recruiting students from the most backward of areas and equips them with the confidence that social elites have enjoyed all through. There cannot be a greater challenge than this in a caste-ridden society like ours. This is a challenge that JNU has internalised for more than half a century now. Therefore, a physical assault, like the one it witnessed on Sunday can shock it, but cannot submerge its identity.

When a campus faces possibly the gravest social challenge as a part of its institutional functioning, a physical attack can only be taken as an aberration of that ugly reality of India that JNU lives every day in its life.

Students and faculty were surprised, shocked but not indisposed. Soon after the attack, there was a renewed commitment to reclaim JNU as a space they belong to. This is a surreal reality that the right-wing hoodlums could make little sense of. In their shallow celebration of a ‘victory’ they had in subjugating unarmed students reflected the helpless of the right-wing politics that wished to subjugate ideas with violence; discussions with lumpenism.

The sense of inferiority of the right-wing hoodlums was clear even as they were mid-attack.

The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah brand of politics are riding history at this critical juncture, capitalising on large swathes of population that await the liberation and freedom that sites like JNU can potentially offer.

The anger against JNU is the anger against not being part of a journey one desperately wants to be, even if it is in one’s subconscious. It is this latent desire that creates an intimate fear for which paradoxically JNU alone remains its possible redemption.

Ajay Gudavarthy is an associate professor at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU.

Deepika Padukone Attends JNU Meet Against Violence, BJP Now Wants Her Films Boycotted

A BJP spokesman described the actor as “part of the Tukde Tukde Gang and “Afzal Gang”.

New Delhi: Bollywood star Deepika Padukone visited Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Tuesday evening to express solidarity with students who were attacked by masked mobs on Sunday. She is the biggest of the mainstream Bollywood stars to have supported the cause and her presence on campus prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party to call for a boycott of her films.

The actor reached the university campus at around 7.40 pm and attended a public meeting, called by JNU Teacher’s Association and JNUSU in response to Sunday’s attack on students and teachers by a masked goons armed with sticks and rods. However, she did not speak or address the gathering.

Though the RSS student wing, ABVP, has denied organising Sunday’s attacks on campus, plenty of evidence has surfaced about the involvement of its activists and supporters in the violence.

Deepika greeted JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who was injured by the goons, and stood as former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar raised slogans against the violence. She left by the time Ghosh started speaking.


Her decision to not address the crowd prompted Ghosh to comment, “When you are in a position, you should speak up”. On his part, however, JNUTA secretary Surajit Majumdar  said the actor came to express solidarity with the students.

Ironically, the BJP’s reaction made it clear the A-list actor’s presence at the meeting was enough to alarm the party. Tejinder Singh Bagga, a national spokesman of the BJP called for a boycott of her films “for her support to #TukdeTukdeGang and Afzal Gang”. These are terms the BJP and its allied media organisations coined in 2016 to attack the reputation of Kanhaiya and other JNU student leaders against whom a case of sedition was registered but never followed through for lack of evidence.

Deepika is in the capital to promote her upcoming release, Meghna Gulzar-directed Chhapaak.


On Monday, the 34-year-old actor told a news channel that she feels proud that people have come out and raised their voice without fear, in reference to the protests against the amended Citizenship Act, the National Register of Citizens and violence in JNU.

“I feel proud to see that we aren’t scared to express ourselves… I think the fact that we are thinking about the country and its future…. Whatever may be our point of view, it’s nice to see,” Deepika told NDTV India.

“I feel proud about it that people are coming out, be it on the streets or wherever they are, they are raising their voice and expressing themselves as it is important. If we want to see change in life and society, it is important that a point of view be put forward,” she added.

(With inputs from PTI)