Attended two rallies yesterday.
At azad maidan to talk to some protestors. Met some young people ( students), and some elderly people ( could have been students of jnu, but since this is mumbai, I knew they weren't). Asked them what issue they were protesting against, and as expected, they had no clue. They seemed happy shouting slogans. (some had seen my 5 seconds role in dabhang 3, so they took selfies with me). I call this picnic activism.
Also attended the rally at August kranti maidan. Declined invitations to come and sit in the front and sat at the back with the crowd. Talked to a few people. Even they didn't seem to know exactly what they were supporting. ( took selfies with me, inspite of having seen me in movies).
Gave interviews to scores of people who recorded on their moblle phones. And then to all the TV channels, who were looking to talk to only familiar faces. Next to me was a learned professor, next was a law student, I asked the channels to talk to them but even media just wants known faces. That's such a shame.
This is the gist of my observations.
1) taking out rallies is futile. Everyone supporting or opposing ( more so if you are opposing) must study the issue, talk to knowledgeable people, find out legality, morality etc by doing a deeper study. Just joining demonstrations, holding placards made by someone else and shouting slogans is not enough. That's picnic activism.
2) government should have sense to communicate to everybody rather than just passing laws. In advertising we do pre and post research before launching an ad campaign. Here you are dealing with major issues.
3) media should realize that celebrities are not knowledgeable in everything. Film stars and directors are mostly ignorant about things which are out of their fields. So talk to educationists, lawyers, people who study these issues. Don't take quotes from idiots like Arundhati Roy who say things for self publicity and make sub-juvenile , childish h statements like lie in your forms and say your names are ranga an billa ( criminals who were convicted for kidnap and murders of innocent young siblings in delhi). Ignore her. There are millions of sensible people in this country, you don't need hair brained idiots to comment on serious national issues.
People like anurag kashyap are small time directors, they know how to make films ( if at all). When he publicly calls a democratically elected p m of the country, deaf, dumb, Nazi and then says that this government is fascist and intolerant, he forgets that if it really was intolerant and fascist, he would be in jail by now, at best. So don't talk to them just because they are known faces.
3) I am not fully supporting caa. I think as swargiya balasaheb thakreay had said 20 years ago, we are a poor, developing country. We have a large section of people who are under poverty line, we have problems of basic needs like food, water, shelter and jobs for our existing citizens. Our farmers are committing suicides. We can't afford the luxury of humanitarianism towards additional refugees. In crores. We shouldn't take anyone, Hindus, Muslims or any other religions. First provide for our existing citizens and then show humanitarian magnanimity.
All in all an evening we'll spent.
