Why Anushka Sharma’s calling out a man for littering on the street is totally justified

A country which prides itself on being one of the oldest civilizations is ashamed time and again by the littering done on the streets. This gives India a bad reputation in front of the foreign visitors and also disgusts us citizens on a daily basis. In India personal hygiene and clean houses can be found anywhere but clean roads and cities are still a dream for the majority of the people. It is because of the simple reasons that we do not treat any garbage outside our immediate surrounding as our own responsibility. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had to take the initiative of asking people to clean India precisely because of these reasons. ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ was launched to educate people about the importance of keeping their cities and thereby the whole of India clean. The initiative was widely appreciated by the majority of Indians but still a few  have remained set in their old ways. Throwing garbage on the streets and appearing surprised when somebody confronts them for doing so are the reactions of these types of people who refuses to change. This is precisely what happened when Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli tried to make a well-off citizen see the wrong in his ways. 

https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1007952358310055937

The incident took place somewhere in Mumbai, Anushka Sharma could not control herself upon seeing a man throw plastic on the street out of the window of his swanky car. She rolled down her window and tried to make the man see the fault in his ways. The man questioned for his doing appeared surprised at first at the rebuke received and that too from a Bollywood actress and the wife of the Indian Cricket team captain. He says next to nothing in the whole video shared by Virat Kohli on his Twitter feed, probably due to shock and surprise. But later he took to Facebook to insult Anushka Sharma for rebuking him, an act which was necessary to say the least.

We understand that Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli are celebrities and they sharing the video might have made the man infamous. Was Anushka Sharma’s tone or manner of speaking too sharp? Probably it depends on who you are and where you are from.  But was her anger justified? Yes, it is completely justified considering the fact that above all, they are Indian citizens who have every right to stop people from throwing garbage on roads. It is in fact much needed in our country, there is a reason why Singapore and other countries are so clean, a fear of fines and public ridicule go a long way in changing the mindsets of the people.

Many people like Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore and Vir Sanghvi are amongst others who supported Anushka and Virat Kohli for doing this act. It was disheartening to see the reactions of a bunch of people around the country that made fun of the couple for speaking out against what should be considered a national crime. Just because Virat Kohli endorses the fitness challenge and supports the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ do not make him a BJP agent. These people tried to politicize the whole event and find faults with the couple, trying to show their connections with PM Modi. Before criticising one should not forget the fact that Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli are the citizens of the country first and as a citizen of the nation they have every right to speak up against anything wrong. It was right on their part to do so, in fact we should all do this if we love our country and wish to see it become cleaner. The people defending the man are as guilty as the man himself, their mindset does not allow them to see the wrong he has committed. 

It is way above politics and supporting a party, it has got everything to do with changing India for the better. It is as much Anushka Sharma’s job as it is ours and yours. If the man feels no guilt in throwing garbage on the streets, he should also not feel scared if his face appears in the video. There is no privacy for people who commit these shameful acts even after being rich and highly educated citizens. Anushka Sharma should be thanked for pointing it out and Virat Kohli for sharing it on the social media platform. This was very much needed and we hope it sets an example for the others.