Tollywood actor Priyadarshi takes a stand, rest enact 'gag'

Hyderabad: As many students and organisations took to the streets protesting the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, many celebrities took to social media to voice their opinions. Several celebrities posted their views on the amended Citizenship Act and the countrywide tension it has unleashed, which followed Sunday’s protests at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia.

Tollywood actor Priyadarshi Pulikonda tweeted, “NO. We are not in a democracy anymore.” Notably, apart from Taapsee Pannu and Siddharth, Priyadarshi is the only Tollywood actor to react to the situation. Tollywood celebrities, who are vocal about several issues like ‘Save Nallamala’ however, remain silent. Rakul Preet Singh, Samantha Akkineni, Rana Daggubati, and various personalities who voice their opinion found lying low.

NO. We are Not in a Democracy anymore.

— Priyadarshi (@priyadarshi_i) December 17, 2019

Is it because they don’t want to be part of a movement that has created chaos in the country? Do celebrities, whose voice reaches a broader audience, don’t want to take a stand or give their views on the issue? Isn’t it time to come together and act as one nation, one people, and one country? These are some of the pertinent question people raised on many social media.

Actor Siddharth Suryanarayan, who had made comments on many political matters, tweeted against the Act. In a series of two tweets, the actor said, “Deeply ashamed that Edappadi Palaniswami represents my state and our people. Supporting the CAB shows his true colours, his lack of integrity and his desperate need to remain powerful at any cost. You will all be held accountable. Enjoy your temporary power until then. #IndiaRejectsCAB.”

In another tweet, he added, “#Jayalalithaa would have never supported CAB. How the #AIADMK has crashed in its ethos, in her absence!”

Expressing her anger, Swara Bhasker tweeted, “I do not want my hard-earned money as a taxpayer to be spent in funding this sick bigoted NRC/CAB project! #CAB #CABAgainstConstitution #CABBill #NRCBill #IndiaAgainstCAB.”

Actor Rajkumar Rao spoke about CAA as well. He tweeted, “I strongly condemn the violence that the police have shown in dealing with the students. In a democracy, the citizens have the right to protest peacefully. I also condemn any act of destroying public properties. Violence is not a solution for anything!”

On the other hand, celebrated musician Adnan Sami reacted positively to CAA on Twitter. He said, “The #CABBill is for religions that are being persecuted in ‘Theocratic States’. Muslims are not persecuted for their faith in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh because they are in the majority over there. Muslims can still apply for Indian citizenship like before. All are welcome through the legal ‘Front Door’!”

Riteish Deshmukh expressed his view by sharing an image on his tweeter handle. The picture said, “I stand in solidarity with the students protesting peacefully. What makes our country great is that every voice is heard, be it of one person or thousands. I do not support any violence. We are and have always been proud of our Police Force, but this time they should have been more compassionate while assessing and tackling the situation. Our students didn’t deserve this.”

Meanwhile, netizens trolled Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for liking and unliking a tweet celebrating police violence on Jamia Millia students. He took to his Twitter handle and said, “Regarding the ‘like’ on the tweet of Jamia Millia students, it was by mistake. I was scrolling, and accidentally it must have been pressed and when I realised I immediately unliked it as in no way do I support such acts.”