In Rajya Sabha, Jaya Bachchan slams those vilifying Bollywood

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 15

The first Covid-era special mentions in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed an emotional Jaya Bachchan seeking government support in face of Bollywood being flogged in the social media.

“People in the entertainment industry are being flogged by the social media. People who made their names in the industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree. I hope that the government tells such people not to use this kind of language,” she said.

Bachchan also gave a zero hour notice in the Rajya Sabha over “the alleged conspiracy to defame the film industry”.

She pointed out that the entertainment industry provides direct employment to 5 lakh persons and indirect employment to 50 lakh. But a campaign on social media has started when the financial situation is in a depressing state and unemployment at the worst level.

“Just because there are some people, you can’t tarnish the image of the entire industry. I am really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one of our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the film industry, spoke against it. It is a shame,” she said, adding that there were some people in the film industry who bite the hand that feeds them.

Kangana issue raised in LS

New Delhi: Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma on Tuesday raised the issue of treatment meted out to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut by the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Government.

“The Shiv Sena is no longer a Sena of Shivaji Maharaj but Congress,” Sharma alleged, pointing to the demolition of her Mumbai office last week. Sharma was speaking in the in the Lok Sabha on the day RS MP Jaya Bachchan took on BJP MP Ravi Kishan for his statement in the lower house over drug abuse in Bollywood on Monday.