Actor-politician Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday took on BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan for his comments in Parliament on drug addiction in Bollywood, saying, “Just because of a few people, you cannot tarnish the whole industry.”
She then slammed Ravi Kishan, without naming him. “I was really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the industry, spoke against the film industry. Jis thaali me khaate hain usi me chched karte hain,” Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party member, said in the Rajya Sabha, referring to Ravi Kishan’s statement in the Lok Sabha.
Ravi Kishan, a popular actor of Bhojpuri and Hindi films, raised in Parliament the drugs-related allegations that have emerged against the film industry in the Sushant Singh Rajput investigations. He alleged a “conspiracy” by Pakistan and China to destroy the country’s younger citizens.
Reacting to Jaya Bachchan’s scathing attack, Ravi Kishan said, “As a responsible member of film industry, it is not just my right but my duty to raise it in Parliament and Jaya-ji should respect that. I am just a son of a priest who crawled his way up and has worked in 600 films.”
“I expected Jaya ji to support what I said. Not everyone in the industry consumes drugs but those who do are part of a plan to finish the world’s largest film industry. When Jaya ji joined, the situation was not like this but now we need to protect the industry,” he said while speaking to ANI.
Earlier, Jaya Bachchan said such statements were meant to divert attention from the state of the economy and unemployment. “The entertainment industry in our country provides direct employment every day to five lakh people and indirect employment to five million people. At a time when the financial situation is in a depressing state and employment is at the worst level, in order to divert the attention of the people, we are being used to be flogged by social media and the government’s non-support. But people who have made their name in this film industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree,” she said.
Actor Kangana Ranaut too jumped in, questioning Jaya Bachchan’s statements in the
Rajya Sabha. She asked if Bachchan would react in the same manner if her daughter or son were affected. “Jaya ji would you say the same thing if in my place it was your daughter Shweta beaten, drugged and molested as a teenager, would you say the same thing if Abhishek complained about bullying and harassment constantly and found hanging one day? Show compassion for us also,” Ranaut tweeted.
Bachchan, however, was backed by a large section of social media users, including Taapsee Pannu. “Yet again a woman from the industry spoke up,” Pannu tweeted.
The Narcotics Control Bureau is investigating charges of drug-dealing and use based on chats found on the phone of Rhea Chakraborty, a 28-year-old actor being investigated over the death of her actor-boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput on 14 June.
Rhea Chakraborty, who is in a Mumbai jail, has been accused of organising drugs for Sushant. The anti-drugs agency called her “an active member of a drugs syndicate”.
With agency inputs