Swara Bhasker reacts to #ArrestSwaraBhasker: 'Why most celebrities only raise their voices for elephants'

The reward for speaking up isn't always applause. In fact in India it rarely is. Lately, there's been a lot of talk on selective activism. However, when celebrities do speak up or celebrities who are always speaking on issues are silenced in hateful ways.

Swara Bhasker expressed her views on the appropriation of slogans during a campaign in the case of #BlackLivesMatter. In return, a trend began on Twitter, #ArrestSwaraBhasker. She reacted to the trend and underlined why celebrities behave the way they do about issues that take place on home turf.

Swara Bhasker on why celebrities engage in selective activism

Swara Bhasker is known for being outspoken and critical. But, many don't look upon that as a quality to appreciate. The actress has on many occasions found herself in the midst of negative campaigns against her and as a target for cyberbullying. Still, the Bollywood actress doesn't back down. 

Today, after she tweeted about the appropriation of slogans to make them palatable for the privilege she triggered a huge wave of social media hate. On Twitter, #ArrestSwaraBhasker began to trend. Netizens targeted her demanding her arrest, for propaganda and the usual complaint that she's an anti-national. Calling her the 'planner' of the Delhi Riots, many began to circulate videos of her from the CAA-NRC protests. 

With the volume of hate, one would expect any celebrity to ride the storm out and keep a low profile. Instead, Swara Bhasker took to Twitter to slam the hate leaving everybody with a moment of reflection. She wrote, "And that my friends...Is why most celebrities in India only raise their voices for elephants!" 

Selective activism has been all the rage recently, as many have pointed out how celebrities only speak on issues that take place on a global front and show a rising level of hypocrisy. However, in most cases when actors do speak up, they become the target of enormous online hate even if they're the ones who usually do speak up and are vocal of their opinions. The irony is, they're damned if they do and when they don't.