This Week Was About Two Silences: Deepika's and Modi's

Silence: A complete lack of noise or sound. (Oxford Dictionary)
Silence: A situation in which somebody refuses to talk about something or to answer questions (Oxford Dictionary)

The world had barely tipped toes in the New Year when on the fateful night of 5th January 2020, more than 40 masked goons ravaged young minds and teachers inside India¡¯s esteemed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus. With iron rods and broken bottles, those hooligans beat the life out of the freedom of expression and choked voice of the world¡¯s largest democracy.

Irrespective of one¡¯s stand towards CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and NRC (National Registry of Citizens) this heinous act needed to be condemned, rebuked and investigated. However, it received silences of two kinds. One was from an A-list Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and the other was from the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi. Interestingly both these silences spoke a million different words.

Donning black clothes, Deepika arrived at the JNU campus and surprised everyone. With her eyes facing the ground, her face remained emotionless. The actress refused to address the crowd and stood along with the students in silence. Her act is considered monumental as she represented the much-needed support from the largest film industry in the world. She embodied the strength and rebellion against the government, destroying elitist ideals of indifference. As a woman, she empowers her colleagues from the industry such as Swara Bhaskar who has tirelessly been a part of the movement. While Deepika and Swara have taken a stance, the most powerful men of the industry, the formidable Khans, choose to be silent.

AFP

The actor has been through fire for her previous film, Padmaavat, to the extent that a BJP politician even put a bounty of $10 million to anyone who beheads her. It, therefore, takes an indomitable spirit to attend another anti-government protest. As expected, in an ignorant response to her dedication, BJP¡¯s Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga tweeted to boycott her upcoming movie, Chapaak which addresses the grave issue of acid attacks in the country.

What followed next will send chills down the spine. National Spokesperson of BJP, Nupur Sharma tweeted,

@deepikapadukone I usually avoid tweeting to Bollywood but if this is your bid to sell a movie on a woman¡¯s fight by sharing stage with somebody penalised for sexual misconduct (he flashed himself to a woman student at JNU in 2015) then it defeats the very purpose!

Now, there is a lot to unpack here. Firstly, the most eye-piercing element of this tweet is the fact that despite being a London School of Economics graduate she is taking misogyny to a new low by shaming a woman for deeds of a man standing beside her. Swara Bhaskar and Deepika Padukone¡¯s Twitter feeds are mirrors of how fast hate comments turn into sexual slurs for women. It is even more heart-wrenching that a qualified person like Nupur Sharma takes it to another level by shaming Deepika for sexual crimes by a man.

BCCL

Secondly, even if she was there for the promotion of her movie, how is it wrong? Since when did we start shaming artists in a democracy for having their own political beliefs and expression of ideas? Why should the act of promoting a film that addresses a bane in society be demonised? Talking about the flaws in the government does not weaken but empowers the spirit democracy. Furthermore, the tweet was taken up by a prime-time news journalist to assassinate the image and spirit of this fearless lady further.

Amidst the deafening wails of democracy around the country, the silence that is heard the loudest is the one by the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi.

A few days back, in an interview, Smriti Irani, a prominent leader of BJP, said that her respect for Mr Narendra Modi grew manifolds when she was protesting against him as a young student and he sat down with her to ask for suggestions to make the policy better. One wonders what stops PM Modi to do the same with the students across the nation today?

For a person who spared no opportunity to criticize his predecessor, Manmohan Singh by calling him a ¡°Silent PM¡± or ¡°Maun-mohan Singh¡±, it seems quite amusing how he runs away from addressing contentious issues. Be it the dwindling state of Indian economy, nosediving rupee, or brash and unplanned implementation of policies, his silence sends tremors throughout the nation for they have to face consequences of his actions.
Transparency is a two-way street which involves a robust feed-back mechanism. While there is no harm in bragging about achievements, the pitfalls should be addressed with the same level of seriousness and not defensiveness.

After the ruthless savagery at the university in the national capital, an absence of a response from him deepens the void of mistrust and hate across the nation. With no new strategies to convict the perpetrators of the act, the nation has turned into a playground for political extremists to commit immoral acts with no fear of consequences.

Like speech, silence also has unbound power. Not just the power to propel a nation to progress and freedom but also the power to throw it into chasms of anarchy and extremism. While one silence is shattering stereotypes, challenging gendered norms and breeding revolution, the other is fostering brutality, exclusion and oligarchy. Like your words, pick your silence wisely.

The author is a Masters of Arts in Law & Diplomacy candidate at the Fletcher School, Tufts University (MA, USA). Views expressed are author's own.