New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been slammed by All India Women's Conference (AIWC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for opposing the anti rape law, has now been condemned by actress Yami Gautam.
During a rally in Moradabad recently, Mulayam sparked national outrage by making a sexist and unforgivably cringe worthy comment "ladke, ladke hain... galti ho jati hai" and earned huge criticism for failing to suggest punitive actions for rapists.
"I think this is a wrong attitude by him or anybody who says something like this. With such a statement, you are only letting the crime rate to go up. People will continue to commit crimes and get away with it. I hate to say this but this comes across as an encouragement to those who commit crimes. According to me this is an unfair perspective. Why can't we make our laws more stringent and ensure punitive actions are taken to ensure such crimes aren't repeated? We talk about literacy rate and imparting education to condition people to think better. But we can't control crime with just these efforts. A lot depends on the efforts to make harsher punishments to criminal. We have to set examples to curtail crimes," she rued.
Yami may not be in India now, but before she left for the US to attend International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) 2014, she also spoke to us about the need to vote sensibly and urged her fans to be aware of the efforts candidates have invested before they cast their votes. According to Yami, it is important for the voters to elect candidates who have a clea understanding of their mandate and responsibilities.
"As an individual I can only speak for myself and not others. We have had several political leaders like Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indra Gandhi in the past who we respected for the work they did irrespective of the political parties they represented. So I think only the deserving candidates should win."
While Lok Sabha election 2014 have seen several entrants from the film industry- including Gul Panag who had contested as AAP candidate (Chandigarh), Kirron Kher, Bappi Lahiri, etc, there have been several celebrities who have been seen meeting and campaigning for politicos. But to be seen with a political leader shouldn't be interpreted as his endorsement. "Each time an actor is spotted with a politician, he is believed to be endorsing him. I don't think this is right. There are a couple of things I would like to mention - if I vote for a political leader that doesn't mean I'm endorsing him as an ACTOR. It is all about people having different perspective. If you have an eye to spot only negative things, that's how you'll perceive things," she explained.
On being asked who - Kirron Kher or Gul Panag - Yami (who belong to Chandigarh) has been endorsing, she said, "Endorsing is a very strong word. Both Kirron Kher and Gul Panag are very strong candidates. I have been supporting Kiran and want her to win because she is very dear to me. I have been very close to Kiran and Anupam ji. I have met Gul very briefly and I can say that she is very intelligent. As far the result go, I don't know who will win. But my best wishes are especially with Kiran."
Since Yami has been endorsing a popular fairness cream, she was recently ridiculed on Twitter for underlining stereotypes such as 'fair is pretty' and supporting India's obsession with light skin. But she remains unfazed by the criticism that came her way. "Jokes are meant to be laughed at, not to be discussed. Both my family and I thought the issue went out of proportion and that too because of media. The fact that I didn't bother to react, mention and discuss the tweets and issue a statement explains I wasn't affected by what was being said. As an actor I feel sad that something like this happened to me. I'm not the only the celebrity to endorse a fairness brand. There are much bigger stars who have been and continue to be associated with fairness products. But as stars we are vulnerable and open to public opinion. As Yami Gautam I'm not endorsing anything that can put anyone into discomfort. I want to tell people that they should be comfortable with they are. I just speak my mind, and not defending any mindset," she said.
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