India
Days after the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, stand-up comedian Mallika Dua courted controversy in a long-winded rant about the discourse and comments prevalent in social media.
At a time when the entire nation is mourning the deaths of over 40 CRPF jawans who were killed by a Jaish-e-mohammed terrorist, looks like stand-up comedian Mallika Dua would like to differ.
In a social media post, Dua went on a rant questioning the nation, "Do you live like an adarshvadi (ideal) throughout the year? Then we should live in mourning through the year, right? I mean what's happening?"
Dua didn't stop at that. She went on to say that politicians were living a normal life and rubbished the "policing" of people to be in solidarity with the families of our martyrs.
Dua continued stating, "These people who are saying that 'humare log shaheed ho gaye, aap apne life normally kaise jee rahe ho (our people have been martyred, how can you live your life normally)'... people are saying this to each other; not just to me, it's all over social media. There is a group of people who are violently in protest of the fact that people are showing their lives the way they are."
What followed next was shock, disbelief and of course netizens calling her out for her insensitivity. First of all, she has a problem with people mourning the loss of 40 of our nation's brave-hearts. Next, she expresses her disenchantment in a video on Facebook, while laying on bed, showcasing just how trivial the nation's loss was for her. Finally, Mallika Dua doesn't even think twice before using expletives.
A father of a slain martyr from Bihar was asked about the loss of his son in the Pulwama attack said that he was proud that his son sacrificed his life for mother India. Major Chitresh Bisht lost his life in the same attack while his father was distributing wedding cards for his wedding on March 7. But both his fiance and his father exhibited great resolve.
Bharat Ke Veer, a website that is maintained to receive funds from the public to distribute among the families of martyrs, crashed repeatedly due to a sudden spurt of traffic. But here we have Mallika Dua, who has a problem with people mourning and expects others like her to pretend to feel sombre for a while in respect of our brave-hearts
That didn't stop Dua from making a silly point, "Now my point is, every day there are people who die of hunger, bhukmari, berozgaari, depression... there are so many reasons why people die; not just in India, but all over the world. You keep going about your life like you do, right? Are those lives any less important? Or are we being insensitive? Do we not care because we are posting things on social media? What is this logic? Yeh kya nonsense chal rahi hai ki poora desh ro raha hai aur tum has rahi ho?"
If that wasn't all, she accompanied her video with a post, "To all the nakli nationalists and keyboard patriots, you don't get to decide who's Indian and who's not. Especially those of you hell bent on destroying the secular fabric of this country really need to shut your mouths before giving others unsolicited Gyaan on being Indian. Tum hum se zyaada hindustaani nahin aur hum tumse kam Hindustaani nahi. It's very convenient to be a keyboard warrior when it's someone else shedding blood on your behalf."
Her long-winded rant has brought about self-inflicted irony in which Mallika gives "gyaan" about not giving gyaan. But on a serious note, these comments do belittle the sentiments of the nation at large. That too, at a time when the country looks for outlets to express themselves. Mallika Dua's statements come just days after the nation lost 40 of its CRPF personnel to a barbaric terrorist attack where a fully loaded SUV rammed into a convoy in Pulwama. All these leads us to wonder if Mallika Dua is venting out her "frustration" or actually demanding that the nation stop feeling what it really feels. Seems like she is suffering from a serious case of cynicism.
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