Actor Swara Bhaskar, known as a staunch proponent of JNU miscreants, was found campaigning for some AAP candidates who she believes do issue-based politics and not politics of hysteria. Swara was seen extensively canvassing for AAP candidates Raghav Chadha, Atishi Marlena, and Dilip Pandey last week.
She had also publicly extended her support for CPI(M)’s Kanhaiya Kumar and Amra Ram. She also campaigned for Congress candidate from Bhopal, Digvijaya Singh.
In a recent interview to Daily O, Swara had lashed out at the BJP accusing the party of furthering identity-based politics with their Hindutva agenda. She had asserted that in the last few years, instances of mob violence had increased and vigilantes had proliferated. She claimed by zeroing down on Sadhvi Pragya their candidate from Bhopal, BJP was playing divisive politics.
To Swara’s chagrin, the interviewer pointed out to her that AAP candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat Atishi Marlena was also playing divisive politics. She was reminded about Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia referring to Marlena as a ‘Rajputani’ warning both BJP and Congress to beware of her. On expected lines, she took up the cudgel for AAP and said that divisive identity politics was the “unfortunate truth” of Indian politics.
Defending AAP’s divisive politics, she pointed out that country is so vast and diverse that caste and religion inevitably take the centre-stage. In an apparent bid to pass the baton to BJP, she blamed that saffron party had “framed” the discourse in such a way that no other party could escape it without appearing divisive.
It is also noteworthy to mention that the top mandarins of AAP-Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Atishi Marlena themselves were accused of shunning issue-based politics and embracing politics of “hysteria” when they levelled unsubstantiated allegations of purportedly distributing slanderous pamphlets against cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir. According to Bhaskar’s dictionary, slandering a reputed cricketer also qualifies as an issue-based politics, perhaps!
However, it is not the first when Bhaskar was caught off-guard. She was informed that Digvijaya Singh had been seeking the help of Sadhus in his campaigning and performing Yagnas to ensure his victory. She defended Congress’ soft-Hindutva approach by citing a distorted definition of Hindutva and asserted that BJP held a puritanical view of rabid Hindutva that it wants to be implemented in India.
Bhaskar had prominently led the placard campaign maligning Hinduism during the Kathua rape case. The Kathua rape and murder case had gained a national momentum with the placard gang and media jumping to a conclusion to malign Hindus when unfortunately an innocent girl was raped and murdered. The same gang had chosen to maintain absolute silence when in numerous other cases where the perpetrators were Muslims. The gang that jumped to a conclusion on the Kathua case also looked the other way when media reports from the ground had pointed it out that in all probability, the ‘accused’ in the Kathua case were framed. Looking at her track record, Bhaskar should be the last person to sermon others on her understanding of Hindutva or Hinduism for that matter.
In the same breath, it is pertinent to note that Sadhvi Pragya has been a victim of a vicious campaign ever since she filed her nominations from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Sadhvi Pragya was wrongly implicated by the Congress government to further their “Hindu-terror” theory. However, this concoction fell flat in the court of law. Sadhvi’s lawyer had categorically stated that when she should have been granted bail within 30 minutes, it took 8 long years of imprisonment before she was set free. Sadhvi had alleged brutal torture by the custodial officers on the directions of their Congress masters.
Digvijaya Singh, on the other hand, was one of the earliest advocates of Congress fabrication of “Hindu-Terror”. He also made an inherently misogynistic remark against his opponent Sadhvi Pragya that she is a ‘mute doll’ for RSS. Singh, who was seen scampering behind Sadhus during campaigning to solicit Hindu votes was the one who was in a hurry to link Hindus with the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack. Digvijaya Singh, another motormouth in Congress, had once passed an obscene remark ‘Sau Taka Tanch Maal‘ on one of his own party MP Meenakshi Natarajan.
Bhaskar, who thrives on the idea of feminism, however, seems to have no problem in supporting a candidate who has insulted women through his lewd remarks. Bhaskar who once felt being reduced to a vagina after watching Padmaavat had no qualms in campaigning for an aggressor and demonizing the victim by calling Sadhvi Pragya a ‘potential terrorist’. In fact, Swara also refuses to acknowledge Congress’ Soft-Hindutva approach by claiming it is better than BJP’s approach.
So when Swara’s attention was drawn towards the vices of the candidates she endorsed and supported, their short-comings were either swept under the rug as in Digvijaya Singh’s case or were termed as imperative to fight the BJP as in Atishi Marlena’s case.
The glaring incongruencies in the stance espoused by Bhaskar when the candidates she supports are accused of things she accuses BJP of, reveals that she has no regards for objectivity and she has differing levels of accountability for different political parties based on her prejudice.