With the Lok Sabha polls beginning from 11 April, the fight to win the elections has taken an interesting turn. Each political faction is leaving no stone unturned in order to influence the masses for voting in their favor. While the BJP led NDA is banking highly on the goodwill of their administration, as well as their firm commitment to national security, Congress led UPA and the Third Front aims to do everything just so that PM Modi is ousted from power.
Into this scenario, a group of left liberal artistes, both from Bollywood as well as the literary circles, signed an open letter, asking masses not to vote for BJP, which according to them, is spreading ‘barbarism and fascism’.
Led by actors Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kalki Koechlin, Muhammad Zeeshan Ayyub etc and filmmakers like S. Sasidharan, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, they appealed to not vote for BJP, on the same lines as the convoy of 60 Bollywood celebrities who wrote an open letter in 2014 as well. The participants to this program were more or less the same.
Interestingly, the very artists, who attempted to appear apolitical, openly backed Congress, as the party published their opinions on their official Twitter handle as follows:-
Bollywood has one message to the people of India: Vote karo, magar soch samajh ke. pic.twitter.com/ibnK78hArf
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 9, 2019
However, it was here that one man had had enough. Actor Ranvir Shorey, in a detailed video message on Twitter, slammed such artists for appealing against PM Modi without any credible basis for their criticism. Following is the video message for his fans that he shared on Twitter:-
My fellow Indians, in the fine tradition of entertainers talking politics, here is my pre #Elections2019 special. Watch and share. Jai Hind. pic.twitter.com/VXyglWAJZb
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) April 10, 2019
In this video, he mentioned that some artists have appealed to the masses to vote, and also wanted to influence the thought process of the same. He then asserted that the problems these artists mentioned while slamming the incumbent government weren’t their handiwork, and that it was not right to blame a 5 year old government for problems that are existent for more than 60-70 years.
Ranvir Shorey is a Bollywood actor who is well known for playing every role he is assigned with finesse. He is known for films like ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’, ‘Lakshya’, ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’, ‘Titli’ and web series like ‘Rangbaaz’, ‘Metro Park’ etc are all to his credit.
To quote him, “Have the current problems in our country appeared only during the last 5 years? Was our country on the right track before 2014? Did we not have any riots in the country before these 5 years? Weren’t the poor butchered or killed in the name of religion before as well? Weren’t unemployment and hunger key problems then? It is right to hold a 5-year-old government responsible for all these problems? 5 years are not enough to solve all the problems of such a large country.
Ranvir further added. “Those who couldn’t fix the problems in 60 years are now talking about NYAY. Is it fair that a single family rules over the country generation after generation? Those who live in Palaces, whose family has been ruling the country for decades cannot understand the growing resentment among the common people.”
Interestingly, Ranvir Shorey is a man who is well known in the offbeat cinema, and has companions who have time and again bashed PM Modi for being nationalist in his approach. Yet, this is not the first time that Ranvir has slammed his colleagues for being hypocritical. Only a couple of years ago, Ranvir had slammed Aam Aadmi Party for not administering Delhi NCR properly and blaming the loss in Punjab assembly elections for the same. Despite the name calling that he was subjected to, Ranvir maintained his stand and refused to take back his statements.
Moreover, Ranvir is not the only one who is disillusioned with his colleagues’ outdated mindset. Actor, lyricist and screenwriter Piyush Mishra had earlier slammed the left liberals, especially Anurag Kashyap, for blindly hating PM Modi and ignoring his positive work. Even Bollywood personalities like R Madhavan and Shekhar Kapur, who were otherwise tight lipped on their political approach, now came out openly criticizing the left liberals, not hesitating to calling them out for mocking issues related to national security. We appreciate Ranvir’s stance, and hope that people take a lesson or two while going to cast their vote.
