Women activists have condemned social media celebrity Ashoke Pandit for posting misogynistic comments and casting aspersion on women’s character in a Twitter rant on Monday.
Pandit, known for his his support for Hindutva ideology and bigotry, had posted a tweet in response to a tweet by the former JNU students’ union vice president, Shehla Rashid.
Pandit’s tweet had said, “It’s better to be a Sanghi than sleeping around with terrorists and raising #antiIndia slogans in JNU.#ProudSanghi.”
His tweet was in response to a social media post by Rashid, who questioned the Censor Board’s decision not to certify a women oriented film, Lipstick Under My Burkha.
Rashid, who had tagged the Censor Board chief, Pahlaj Nihalani and Pandit in her tweet, had written, “CBFC banned a movie because it was too “lady-oriented”
CBFC is staffed by Sanghi idiots like (sic)”
Leading the group of women who condemned Pandit for his obnoxious tweet was actor and famous TV host, Simi Grewal.
Grewal wrote, “Such a shameful & disgusting comment. Has he no conscience? If the law can’t punish men like him. God surely will..”
Grewal was joined by several other women who agreed with her in condemnation for the ‘proud sanghi’ filmmaker.
And those condemning Pandit also reportedly included his daughter, Shaarika Pandit, who wrote,
Since Shaarika has her Twitter account protected, we could not verify whether her tweet in the screenshot above was indeed posted by her. Shaarika had account open until Tuesday morning, but after the above screenshot went viral, she decided to protect her account.
Pandit, who claims to be a Bollywood director but has no tangible works to substantiate his credentials, had, last year, resorted to foul language and insinuation against a Congress’ lady spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Pandit, known for yelling and aggressive behaviour on live TV, had told Chaturvedi, “I don’t need a certificate from such third rated spokesperson because we know how these people have climbed ranks in their party.”
His angry reaction was in response to Chaturvedi’s allegation that he had merely used the plight of displaced Kashmiri Pandits to further his political and professional ambitions.
The Censor Board had last month refused to certify Prakash Jha’s Lipstick Under My Burkha starring Konkona Sensharma and Ratna Pathak Shah.
Listing the reasons for denial of certificate, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in a letter, posted by Bollywood celebrities online, wrote, “The story is lady oriented, their fantasy above life. There are contanious sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society, hence film refused under guidelines (sic).”