Mumbai: Marathi actor Spruha Joshi is angry at the lowering standards of campaigning. She has said, “Why do they stoop low during campaigning? Why don’t they pick up sensible topics for the campaigns.” Joshi aired her views in a lengthy Facebook post. She has appreciated women actors joining politics and said it is not new. She said, Urmila Matondkar, MiMi Chakravarty, Nusrat Jahan seem to be trending from social media to chai tapri.
Parties are hoping to cash in on their popularity as actors. In our sexist society, disrespectful things are said about our actresses,” wrote Joshi. She has objected to how memes of their screen images in West Bengal are going viral and Jahan and Chakravarty are being trolled.
One of the memes said, “She will make nights colourful with her ghungroo and thumkas,” lamented Joshi. She alleged that this is solely because these candidates are actresses and in the entertainment industry they are expected to dance and entertain. “Only the female actresses are shamed,” alleged Joshi. Joshi wants strict scrutiny and measures to be taken to avoid such shaming of female actors who are political candidates.
Joshi cited the example of the actor Radha Ravi, who was expelled from the DMK for his derogatory remarks on actress Nayantara and his comments on Pollachi rape case. She has called on women in the society to stand by all female candidates. “We ourselves often say women have no brains. Soon, it gets ingrained in us and many start believing in it,” said Joshi.
