Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has been vocal about his support to the protests in the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act, received flak for his tweet saying that he had also agitated against the Mandal Commission 27 years ago.
Kashyap was responding to a tweet asking him if he has “ever joined any protest” or if he is “scared of being killed”. Kashyap wrote in Hindi, “Yes sir, I was there at August Kranti Maidan, was there at the Anna Hazare-led protest against corruption and was also there on the streets 27 years ago to agitate against the Mandal Commission.”
Following his tweet, many on Twitter slammed him as "casteist” for protesting against caste-based reservation in government jobs in India.
‘Unconditionally Apologise for the Teenager That I Was’
Facing flak, Kashyap put out a pair of tweets offering an “unconditional apology.” He wrote, “ I unconditionally apologise for the teenager that I was and I totally stand for the rights and reservations forSC/ST/OBC.”
He added, “To expand on that - then I was a lot of things I am not today, I have not been that man for the longest time, but today I know what I am fighting for and I want to focus on that.I am not always politically correct &I don’t claim I understand everything. But this fight I do know.”
What Were the Mandal Commission Protests About?
In the 1990s, many youth belonging to privileged castes in the country hit the streets in protest against the then-VP Singh government’s decision to implement the Mandal Commission’s recommendation. The latter aimed to reserve 27 per cent public sector jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
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