For Maharashtra, 2018 started on a sad note. As the violence of Pune’s Bhima Koregaon spread to entire Maharashtra, some privileged people from our country took to Twitter to express, wait, not their concern but their views on ‘bandh’ and caste, or rather, the ‘irrelevance’ of it. For the record, only those who have never been adversely affected by their caste identity, could ever be this ignorant.
From calling ‘the bandh a result of some jobless people coming on the streets and indulging in mischief’ to enlightening people about who the ‘real minority’ of the country are, their wisdom was the last thing we needed during such a volatile situation. And we are talking about none other than people like popular Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and veteran actor and politician ‘Sir Paresh Rawal’.
Because living in denial of your upper caste privilege is the easiest thing to do. Here are six ridiculously insane responses to the Bhima Koregaon protests by some of our popular celebrities:
1. The gathering at Bhima Koregaon was to commemorate a 200-year old battle. Who are you calling jobless, sir?
The new meaning of a Bandh actually is when jobless people come on the streets and indulge in mischief to ensure others having a job/business don’t reach their office/home that day. This needs to stop.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) January 3, 2018
2. A humble *reminder that your class often allows you privileges others do not have access to
And by the way. To all the people who are lost in ‘left wing’ or ‘right wing’, ‘liberal’ or ‘bhakt’ utter time-pass divisive bullshit rhetoric:
A humble reminded that both of your trains and flights are cancelled. And neither one of you can get to work and earn a living today.
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 3, 2018
3. We are a dolphin when we meet our friends, a shark when we’re on Twitter. #SameLogic
I’m a Kshatriya when I fight and defend my rights and ideas, a Vaishya when I’m engaged in gainful work, a Shudra when I’m cleaning things, and a Brahmin by birth. Above all, I’m a Hindu and an Indian, and proudly so https://t.co/sDXnvKHa9Y
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) January 2, 2018
4. Move over ‘real desh-bhakt’, let’s talk about ‘real minority’
— Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) January 4, 2018
5. FIRST OF ALL, HOW DO YOU STILL REMEMBER YOUR SEAT NUMBER?
Sometime ago, on a flight I saw a great Dalit leader’s grandson sitting on 1A, business class and I wrote this in notes. Just found. pic.twitter.com/NaEW2bGnkC
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) January 3, 2018
6. Must be nice to be able to tweet such garbage without consequences.
A bandh is a day where work less people force working people to stop working
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) January 4, 2018
Because being inappropriate requires zero effort.
