BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Wednesday took potshots at actor Deepika Padukone, who visited Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after violence, saying she should not try to act like warrior Mastani, because “she does not have a real-life director behind her”.
Ms. Padukone had expressed solidarity with JNU students attacked by masked goons on the campus in Delhi on Sunday night. She also visited the university campus on Tuesday . She was trolled on social media for her gesture.
Speaking on the premises of Vidhan Bhavan, Mr. Shelar said, “It is easy to portray the character of warrior Mastani, when you have a director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali behind you. But in real life, when she does not have a director behind her, (then) she should not try to portray herself as a warrior or Mastani because it is now clear that she is unable to live that kind of life in reality.”
Ms. Padukone had featured in Hindi film Bajirao Mastani , a 2015 historical romance movie. Mastani was a warrior during the Peshwa rule. He called the actor’s act of meeting some JNU attack victims as “insensitive and inappropriate”.
The BJP leader said she has shown insensitivity by meeting just one side of the people in the JNU violence. “The incident is being probed by the police. So, meeting just one side of the people is inappropriate; obviously she is in trouble.”
“We condemn and reject her step. We find it (her act) insensitive,” the BJP leader said.
Ms. Padukone’s visit to JNU brought her under attack on social media, while activists and some politicians applauded her gesture.
