“Speak your truth. Stand your ground.”
Swara Bhasker has opened up about the sexual harassment she faces online and how she deals with it.
In a recent Twitter Spaces chat, the actress revealed that the main source of trolling comes from her masturbation scene in Veere Di Wedding.
However, Bhasker says she refuses to succumb to online bullying and plans to stand her ground.
Swara Bhasker took to Instagram to share an excerpt from her Twitter Spaces chat.
The post came on Saturday, August 21, 2021.
In the excerpt, Swara Bhasker said:
“Social media is a [virtual] public space like roads and restaurants are, but the public decency and basic social etiquette maintained offline are absent online.
“I can’t even post a photo of a flower without people linking it to masturbation or referencing ‘ungli’ (finger) after Veere Di Wedding came out.
“It’s ugly and amounts to cyber sexual harassment but I feel very strongly about not succumbing to online bullying or limiting my presence online because of it.
“We cannot cede the virtual public space to hate, bigotry and bullying.”
Swara Bhasker captioned her Instagram post: “Speak your truth. Stand your ground.”
Multiple Instagram users took to Bhasker’s post to praise her for her positive response to the bullying she receives.
One person said:
“So proud of you Swara! Keep your head high and go get them.”
Another wrote:
“You’re a wonderful human being and an amazing actress.
“Stand strong, you are not alone. We fight together.”
A third said:
“We are all with you. Be strong.”
However, some users also commented to accuse Swara Bhasker of lying about her online hate.
One user wrote:
“Shameless woman… liar… what a clown you are… don’t lie… and don’t spread hatred.”
The user also referred to Swara Bhasker’s recent tweet about the Taliban’s re-taking of Afghanistan, for which she is getting major backlash.
In a tweet from Monday, August 16, 2021, Bhasker said:
“We can’t be okay with Hindutva terror and be all shocked and devastated at Taliban terror…
“We can’t be chill with #Taliban terror, and then be all indignant about #Hindutva terror!
“Our humanitarian and ethical values should not be based on identity of the oppressor or oppressed.”
Let me rephrase! The #Taliban doesn’t deserve our nuance .. notwithstanding American Imperialism which is wrong and must be critiqued. But Taliban does not deserve nuance. Recognise their many many evils and wrongdoings! https://t.co/mzrsUpjUTV
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) August 16, 2021
She then followed her tweet up with another, which says:
“Let me rephrase! The #Taliban doesn’t deserve our nuance…notwithstanding American Imperialism which is wrong and must be critiqued.
“But Taliban does not deserve nuance. Recognise their many many evils and wrongdoings!”
However, netizens have slammed the actress for hurting the sentiments of Hinduism.
As a result, the hashtags #ArrestSwaraBhasker and #BoycottSwaraBhasker have been trending on Twitter.