On June 28,
television actress Shruti Seth took to Twitter to express her opinion
about PM Narendra Modi’s #SelfieWithDaughter campaign.
She criticized the campaign and called Modi ‘selfie obsessed PM’ and ‘the floodgates of hell opened’.
What followed the tweet was 48 hours of
relentless backlash from Twitterati. While the actress had to delete her
initial tweets, she later wrote an open letter addressed to the nation
asking them if abuse is the answer to dissent.
Men and women alike said the most vile things about me, stripping
me of all my dignity as a woman, wrote Shruti Seth about the backlash
she faced because of the campaign.
A little note to India
I write this to an entire nation
because no one individual can be held responsible for bringing about
change in the mindset of a billion odd people. Change can only happen if
there is awareness at an individual level. On the morning of 28th June,
I made the grave mistake of expressing my views on an initiative called
#selfiewithdaughter which had been blessed by our PM. Most people found
it to be a sweet gesture and a means to create awareness about female
infanticide. I, sadly, didn’t find the idea very palatable. Keep in mind
that I have an eleven-month daughter of my own. But I expect more from
the man who’s supposed to usher in a new era of change, not just tenuous
surface-level initiatives.
I then made a graver mistake of
posting this opinion on Twitter. So not only did I dare to think, I also
dared to place my thoughts in the public domain. And then, at the risk
of sounding overly-Shakespearean, the floodgates of hell opened. I was
subjected to a tsunami of hate tweets. 48 hours of non stop trolling.
The tweets were targeted at me, my family, my ‘Muslim’ husband, my
11-month-old daughter and, of course, my non-existent, dwindling,
no-good career as an actor.
I had made an unsavoury comment about
our Prime Minister by calling him – gasp – #selfieobsessed and asking
him to choose reform over gimmickry. Was I wrong? Was I too harsh?
Apparently, for those who support him and the ruling government,
unquestioningly so. I, as a member of the tax-paying electorate of
India, did not have the right to comment on his policy. I had dared to
challenge his authority. I had abused the highest office of the country
(which is the President, by the way).
And so I deserved to be punished. And
punished in a manner commensurate with the vitriol that the anonymity
& access of Twitter so easily provides. Men and women alike said the
most vile things about me, stripping me of all my dignity as someone’s
daughter, wife and mother and most importantly a woman. Men who were
busy hash-tagging their selfies with their daughters one minute called
me slanderous names the next. Asked me if I knew who my real father was.
Questioned if I had been sexually abused as a child and hence was
opposed to the idea of a selfie with my father. And these are the
relatively polite ones. Well done, gentlemen. Your daughters must be so
proud.
Women, who are meant to empower each
other, asked me if I was a prostitute and if I was planning on doing the
same with my daughter. Whether I was trying to gain some fame and
resurrect my failed career by using the prime minister’s name. I shudder
to think of the deep respect your sons will have for the opposite sex.
So here’s the thing. What is the point of taking selfies with your girls
when you’re also responsible for creating the most toxic environment
for them to grow up in? How will taking a photograph nullify the
misogyny and patriarchy that is so deeply entrenched in our society? Why
bother to increase the number of girls being born when you choose to
treat them with such indignity and disrespect? All those who trolled me
incessantly for forty eight hours, did you for once stop and think that
I, too, am someone’s daughter? Did you ever ask yourselves how you’d
feel if it were your daughter at the receiving end of all that hate? I’m
guessing the answer is a big, resounding “No”. Because, you know, you
were too busy pouting for the camera & getting ‘likes’ and ‘RT’s to
your #selfiewithdaughter.
As for our esteemed PM, I have this to
say to him: Dear Sir, If you truly wish to empower women I urge you to
condemn this kind of hatred being spread in your name. Regretfully, I
deleted my initial tweet because of the backlash. But I stand by what I
said and I’ll reiterate it here: “Selfies don’t bring about change,
reform does. So please try and be bigger than a photograph. Come on!”
And as for my initial reservation about the initiative being nothing
more than eyewash, I am deeply saddened to see that, in the end, I was
proved right.
Something to think about?
(Source: Shruti Seth/Twitter)
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