I Support Deepika’s JNU Visit, Unacceptable for Govt and Oppn to Have Students Fight Proxy War: Ranvir Shorey

Mumbai: Actor Ranvir Shorey, who has been at loggerheads with critics of the central government over the Citizenship Amendment Act, has come out in support of Bollywood star Deepika Padukone who visited the JNU campus in Delhi on Tuesday night to express solidarity with students protesting against the January 5 assault by a masked mob.

“I support Deepika's visit to JNU… It is unacceptable for the government and the opposition to have students fight a proxy war for them. I condemn this violence and whoever is behind it should be punished,” Shorey told News18.

Commenting on his attendance at the dinner, which was given a miss by other invitees like Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Richa Chadha, Kabir Khan and Karan Johar, Shorey said, “The government had invited a few of us to give a clarification on the Act. It was on that night that the JNU violence had broken out…”

Defending the CAA, which has been criticised as discriminatory towards Muslim citizens, he said, “The CAA in isolation is a humanitarian act... People have a problem when it is mixed with NRC... If NRC has not been initiated, then there should not be any protests.”

Shorey, who was last seen in season 2 of the Hindi remake of The Office on Hotstar, had earned the wrath of Twitterati last month when he criticised the anti-CAA protests and compared being trolled to “MeToo ordeal”.

"Trust Indian citizens to lose their sh*t over a law that doesn't affect Indian citizens. #CAAProtests #India #BharatBananaHai. The CAA doesn't affect students directly. Yet they're being made the face of these protests," he had tweeted.

Replying to an expletive-laden comment by a user, Shorey said, “Wah. Here's my #metoo story." Slammed even more severely thereon, the actor said it was time to quit Twitter, but has remained active on the microblogging site.