Shruti Seth's open letter to PM - Her point of view or a publicity stunt?

Shruti Seth's open letter to PM - Her point of view or a publicity stunt?

Introduction:

Shruti Seth, television actress and show host, got into controversy when her tweets against PM Narendra Modi's Selfie with Daughter campaign landed her into a whole mess of trouble. Modi supporters or "bhakts" as they are tauntingly called slammed Shruti on Twitter with offensive, sexist comments for the next 48 hours. The condemnation still continues. She not only got many haters in the whole lot of Twitter but also supporters who stood for her and soon started condemning the campaign along with her. The hatred did not stop untill she had to erase her first post. Even now the venom spilling continues on her twitter account. Shruti bravely took the step to answer them instead of hiding back. She took the stand on her opinion and revealed how lacking the campaign is in raising the dignity of women. Some are calling her active participation in this matter nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Her point of view:

1. It's a democratic republic we are living in and everyone here is supposed to be free to express their views even against the highest authority of the nation. The saffron clan however doesn't understand this. They are blind followers mostly, who would lose all their ethics and manners if you dare as much as utter a word against their choicest of people. If Shruti Seth or anyone in general, celeb or not, finds a campaign lacking and hollow they can speak against it.

2. The irony in the matter just shows the hypocritical minds of those abusing and offending Shruti. The supporters of the campaign that are meant to protect and empower women are the ones who are treating this lady in the most obscene manner. They just proved how right she was. Selfies won't change the mindset of people, reforms would. Taking pictures with daughters would not let these narrow minded men start respecting the daughters of other men as well.

3. Shruti is married to Danish Aslam, producer who happens to be a Muslim. In the last one year she has been through the derogatory comments on her husband Twitter account where people ask him to leave India and stay in Pakistan or Syria. The voice she raised now is that of a woman who has had enough to hear from the mindless blind followers.

4. Being a mother of an eleven-month daughter she felt that the initiative was just "surface level" which would not bring in any change and that the PM was just being self-obsessed, calling for such campaign that are nothing more than an eyewash gimmick. Is it very difficult to understand that clicking selfies with daughters won't stop patriarchy in a society full of chauvinists? Every tax paying electorate has the right to question the grounds of policies and initiatives taken in the name of social cause.

5. Not for once did the PM or his PR people, experts at handling his social media account, providing detailed information about what the party would do for the nation, took the step to condemn the kind of hatred this lady was getting after giving her opinion on the campaign. People went ahead of accusing this lady as a prostitute, raised questions on her upbringing, her father, husband, daughter and what not. Unfortunately, the PMO keeps mum at this matter, showing how much they mean of their empowering women policies.

6. She did not step back after being trolled and backlashed with hatred from Modi followers. Had this been just a gimmick or stunt, the actress would have ducked her head down somewhere and the matter would have died by now. Instead she bravely chose to stand up to her condemnation and wrote an open letter to the PM asking him to be bigger than just a picture. She also replied with sheer courage and boldness, which is something to look up to, to all those who trolled her with offensive comments. Now that's how women are to empower themselves. Do not take injustice silently, go fight your own war instead of just asking someone else to do it for you.

Publicity stunt:

1. Shruti's career might have seen the ups and downs of its time and now that the actress felt she should be devouring some time to the nation, she picked up the best way to seek attention. Yes, she is free to express her views on a national level initiative but so are the people when they find this lady accusing their favourite PM of being self obsessed. I am in no way favouring the way in which people condemned her but what more could be expected in a nation where people are either blind followers or experts at bringing each other down? However, even if what she did is a gimmick, it does not justify vile comments which she received following her tweets.

2. Selfie with daughter is an harmless initiative. It might not bring in a big change all of a sudden but something to start with is better than nothing at all. How is it that Shruti, the epitome of women empowerment, never criticized the previous government of doing nothing or even better, Bollywood for objectifying women in the most vile ways?

3. Shruti played the female card very well. Had it been a male actor who had criticized PM's initiative, followers on twitter would have shown the same kind of abusive response. She just took the matter to a non-stop debate zone where this hatred would not stop either ways.

4. Her first post that generated all the backlash was not in any way suggestive of how the campaign could be revised to ensure that it delivers that for which it is initiated. It was complete critical analysis of the initiative in a way that only shows that she is of the anti-saffron league. If you could be of no help, then it is better to stop yelling when another person is trying at least.

Conclusion:

Selfie with daughter can be a good initiative in the long way that India still has to go to empower women and get rid of misogyny and patriarchy. Somewhere someone has to make a beginning and this campaign could be the medium to begin from, provided that PM takes it further to bring in reform and not stop with just being the picture for limelight. Shruti Seth has the right to question the effectiveness of any campaign that is initiated at the national level. What followed is just a sad part of the hypocrisy that shows the mindset of people who seem to be supporting the campaign only at the surface level. When they do not understand the motto behind the policy, how could we expect that they get the idea by clicking with their daughters? It would indeed be just an eyewash meant only for likes and RTs.