Variety

Sonu Sood’s criticism shows your commitment to migrant cause

VandanaJune 1, 2020 | 16:59 IST

Until Friday, Sonu Sood was sending people back home on buses from Maharashtra to various parts of India, vowing to keep organising transport till the last man had been sent home. He extended his services to women and children.

It looks like gender and age were no consideration. Anyone deserted by the state and asked to wait for food in makeshift shelter homes with no means to reach home could reach out to Sood. He was reaching out to many himself.

Sonu Sood has been acting his part as a good citizen. (Photo: Twitter)

Even as buses were taking migrants home on Saturday, Sood himself however took a wrong turn. But how did he get to Saturday? To get there, we will have to go back to all that happened till Friday.

As many of us sat at home fuming over the plight of those relying on Bus Number 11, in the Hindi belt used jokingly as the two legs in possession of humans, Sood was acting his part. Not a scripted one at that. The part a privileged, informed and responsible citizen should play. On our part, we clapped for Sood, tweeting umpteen adjectives in his praise. Bollywood analogies were used to express just how much the nation valued what he was doing. Sood too was responding to all the praise and admiration along with the requests of “send me home, Sonu bhai” personally through his social-media handles.

Then came Saturday, and Sood took some time off from seeing off buses to go and see Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

Sood has been at the forefront of organising the help. But there have been many he has reached out to, to back his support. He met Koshyari who assured him of his support in organising the help Sood needs. Remember, Sood needs no help for himself. He is only organising it for those, who we all agreed, in a rare moment of national agreement, need help.

The meeting, which our guess is, wouldn’t have lasted more than an hour, spilled cold water on the work the Bollywood actor has done so far.

Koshyari is a BJP appointee to the Maharashtra gubernatorial office. When parties locked horns over government formation in the state in October-November 2019, Koshyari came under criticism for acting partisan. For meeting Koshyari, Sood too has been branded a party man, of course, not in so many words. The narrative-setting work depends on smart use of words. Sometimes, not saying is the best way of saying.

To discredit Sood’s work, a ground had to be found. The thing about digging up on anyone is that you are sure to find dirt. And it took just about one year of digging into to find dirt on Sood. A sting operation of 2019 was shown as further proof that Sood was a BJP man.

The 'sting' had shown many celebrities involved in a tweet-for-money scam. The allegation was that celebrities took money from BJP IT cell to tweet party- and government-favourable tweets.

Those who called Sood the real-life Chulbul Pandey could use the dirt to show they have been proven right. Chulbul Pandey is akin to Robin Hood, who looted from the rich to pass on the loot to the poor. The moral justification being that the rich loot from the poor, so looting from the former isn’t loot but only ‘taking back’.

This is no justification for presenting to people someone’s beliefs and opinions as your own, with or without an exchange of money. But how many of us can vouch to be posting on social media that which we totally believe in or that which we actually practise? Some do it unknowingly; others, because they have mastered the art of lying to themselves. They are the ones demanding accountability of others. They are ones saying Sood's work doesn't count because of his 'links' to BJP.

Some posts are for traction; many to suit our narratives. Sood suddenly doesn’t suit the narrative of many. It goes on to show just how duplicitous people’s commitment to the migrant cause was.

If your commitment was helping the migrants before all else, how does your narrative suddenly take precedence over migrant welfare?

Also read: We will all breathe for George Floyd. Except Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg

Last updated: June 01, 2020 | 17:06
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