Why Sai Pallavi's Anti-Violence Statement Getting Unwarranted Hate Is Problematic

While some trolls of actor, Sai Pallavi gave her unsolicited hate just because she expressed her views about violence in an interview yesterday, others said that they are not ‘surprised.’ According to her trolls, Sai Pallavi’s comparison of Kashmiri Hindus' suffering to cow thieves stems from her presumed ‘dumbness.’

They said that they did not know about Sai Pallavi’s ignorance about the history of genocide, indiscriminate rape and murder of Kashmiri Hindus/ Pandits. ‘She should make a sincere and honest effort to know why Kashmiri Pandits Genocide happened in 1990 and why it’s a serious concern that it will happen again,’ opined one of her trolls.

Sai Pallavi Kashmir Statement Taken Out Of Context

Now is it not a lot to expect from an actor? While expecting accountability from public figures is natural but if people want societal change and the dismantling of societal structures and problems, it is best not to set their hopes up on an actor. They can expect policymakers to make better decisions that can be carried out by our government.

Just because the State is unable to counter the hate spreading across the country, it does not mean that people should expect changes and words of ‘wisdom’ from accomplished actors and start cancelling them just because they do not have the answer to everything problematic about the country. Worse still, Sai Pallavi’s words in the interview were seemingly taken out of context for the benefit of the trolls to immerse her into more hateful comments.

Pallavi had said, "Some days back, I saw Kashmiri Files. We saw how Kashmiri pandits were killed at that time and during Covid time someone is taking a cow in a vehicle and as that driver is Muslim, they slashed him saying Jai Shri Ram slogans, both are religious conflicts, both have violence, what we need, is to be good."

Suggested Reading: Who Is Sai Pallavi? 

What Sai Pallavi actually said was, that violence, in her opinion, was a wrong form of communication. There are grey areas that one simply cannot omit. While some seek to get justice by resorting to violence, others can also remain neutral towards it.

Sai Pallavi said that being neutral does not always mean siding with the violent form of power - it can also mean that for a person, unaware of complex issues, particularly the history of Kashmir, it is best not to say anything inappropriate lest any sentiments are hurt. Does that mean, they are ‘dumb’ people, disinclined to learn?

Also, why must an actor speak up about history and socio-political turmoil as if it’s their job to have an opinion on everything? Is it not an academic or a citizen’s job to do the bare minimum homework, read up and understand the problems themselves?

Sai Pallavi recalled being raised in a neutral family where her primary objective was to become a good human being. “The oppressed should be protected irrespective of left-wing or right-wing,” she said, adding that the killing of Kashmiri pandits and Muslims - both of them have violence ingrained in them.

While some may say that only in utopia can we be good human beings and not hurt anyone around us, it is also true that we, in reality, have become a crowd of angry and frustrated people, perennially at each other’s throats. Just because Pallavi wanted this horrible human tendency to change, her trolls took to Twitter to spread hate and call her out for being ‘dumb.’

Is this not proof enough that we are constantly into performativity on the Internet, misusing our #freespeech in the name of political correctness and the mindless obsession around it? People like Sai Pallavi can only help improve the wrongs in society, and do nothing more because they too are a part of it. If we want changes to be made, we must educate ourselves, do our homework to learn and try to put ourselves in the shoes of the ‘other’ and minorities because revolution does not happen from Sai Pallavi’s words. It happens through awareness and action.

The views expressed are the author's own.