Two days after a group called Karni Sena physically manhandled Bollywood Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali over alleged distortion of history of Rajput queen Padmawati, actor Sushant Singh Rajput decided to protest this act in a unique way.
He decided to drop his surname “Rajput” (and “Singh” too) from his name for a day. He did it by editing the display name of Twitter, which is back to his old name (with “Singh Rajput” included) this morning. He claimed that he did it so to send a message that group like Karni Sena don’t represent all Rajputs.
While some, especially in the mainstream media and the actor’s fans, thought it was an awesome move, others questioned the logic behind the act. The act of dropping a surname is closer to disowning one’s identity than protecting that identity from being hijacked, as Sushant (Singh Rajput) had claimed.
And it attracted a wide range of comments on Twitter:
Bollywood should make up its mind. Does a name matter (when it’s Rajput) or it doesn’t matter (when it’s Taimur)?
https://twitter.com/Shuklasom789Som/status/825659773152538624
Bollywood’s peculiar kind of virtue signaling?
https://twitter.com/rahulroushan/status/825777341335007236
Perhaps such a statement is better fit if one claims that a fringe doesn’t represent the community?
https://twitter.com/Ra_Bies/status/825776399487217664
One guy was so upset, he recorded a video message for Sushant (Singh Rajput):
https://twitter.com/iManojSingh/status/825749294644883457
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And when it comes to Twitter, how can some fun and sarcasm be behind?
https://twitter.com/Atheist_Krishna/status/825781126367113216
https://twitter.com/iAnkurSingh/status/825784593710272513
https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/825896259936325634
https://twitter.com/Being_Humor/status/825746569425276933
https://twitter.com/TrulyMonica/status/825914261377421312
https://twitter.com/Being_Humor/status/825910061029588992
https://twitter.com/coolfunnytshirt/status/825912148643762176
And in a novel way of protesting to match Sushant Singh Rajput’s style, some decided to add “Rajput” to their names:
https://twitter.com/mamtan14/status/825772804062707718
https://twitter.com/ashishtikoo31/status/825772213022375937
Sushant Singh Rajput called everyone criticising his move as “paid troll” after such responses went viral.