Paresh Rawal Wants Arundhati Roy Tied To Army Jeep, Sparks Storm
Many Twitter users asked Rawal not to “behave like a troll” while others rose to defend him.
BJP MP and Bollywood star Paresh Rawal on Monday took to Twitter to attack acclaimed author Arundhati Roy.
Rawal was referring to last month’s infamous incident of a Kashmiri man being tied to an Army jeep, propped up as a human shield to deter stone-pelters.
And Rawal wasn’t done yet. He further tweeted,
The BJP MP had chosen to accept the suggestion of a certain @ayush_dzire, welcoming his advice of allowing veteran journalist Sagarika Ghose to take Arundhati Roy’s place on the jeep if need be.
It isn’t the first time a public personality has spoken out in defence of the Army’s use of a human shield.
It doesn’t take much to cause a Twitter storm. And when an MP openly bats for an author to be tied to an Army jeep and humiliated, it wasn’t surprising that those on the social media site had a lot to say.
From activists alleging Rawal was inciting violence...
...to politicians joining the bandwagon, everyone had a 140 characters to spare for Rawal and Roy.
Some expressed shame that an elected lawmaker could make such a statement.
Others wanted police action against the MP.
That it was getting difficult to distinguish a Member of Parliament from the average Twitter troll was also pointed out.
But there were also those who proclaimed their dislike for the author. Such an account by the name of AllSee Yogi, claimed that Arundhati Roy deserved a police complaint against her for “whatever she has been blabbering on international forums”.
And Twitter user Meera Singh is looking forward to Arundhati Roy exposing herself.
And if Arundhati Roy and Sagarika Ghose are getting trolled, how can Barkha Dutt be far behind?
Twitterati were quick to pick on the BJP’s silence on its MP’s controversial comment.
But others felt Rawal’s tweet had somehow pulled the mask off “so many public figures”.
So what influenced the Bollywood star to make such a comment? Leave it to Twitter to try and play Sherlock.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)