Siddharth shared a video of him speaking at a business school in 2009
New Delhi:
Actor Siddharth, a vocal critic of the BJP government, shared a video of him from 2009 speaking at a business school and said that nobody attacked him “for having an opinion” back then adding that the country “has changed”.
The 41-year-old actor who has been tweeting frequently against the handling of the ‘toolkit’ case in which climate activist Disha Ravi was arrested, also added that the country “is being brainwashed and gaslit by a new normal kind of evil.”
“I wonder why I never got a single complaint or threat then about the tone and nature of my speech? Nobody attacked me for having an opinion… For asking questions. India has changed. It changed in front of our eyes. Question is… what are we going to do about it?” he tweeted along with the video.
I wonder why I never got a single complaint or threat then about the tone and nature of my speech? Nobody attacked me for having an opinion… For asking questions. India has changed. It changed in front of our eyes. Question is… what are we going to do about it?
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) February 17, 2021
Siddharth, who shot to fame with the hit movie “Rang De Basanti”, had spoken at the Indian School of Business in 2009 about the state of affairs of the country, pointed a finger at the role of media in a democracy and how a common man can barely make a difference anymore.
Quoting legendary American comedian Groucho Marx, Siddharth started by saying he was not worthy enough to be on a stage as the credentials of actors are always questioned whenever they have an opinion about the country.
He went on to talk about how even being a celebrity, he was not heard by the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh when he went to donate money for the devastating floods in the state.
“If a celebrity who wants to do something for the state of Andhra Pradesh cannot do anything, what does a common man stand chance of doing?” he said.
He also slammed the media for its handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and called it a “circus” that ran for three days.
“A month later, everyone had forgotten about the attack,” Siddharth said adding that it angered him that people had “such a short attention span”.
With the video, Siddharth also tweeted: “We are not those who changed their tunes in 2014. Stay true. Speak the truth.”
He also slammed the organiser who had called him for the event at ISB in 2009 for a tweet of hers calling him “a school dropout may be.”
Siddharth tweeted to her: “Back then too I was a post graduate and I spoke my mind.”
“I was young and angry then. I am younger and angrier today,” the actor tweeted.
Siddharth found support from many on Twitter who praised him for speaking out back then as well as now.