Actress Kajol was heavily trolled, and threatened, online for posting a video of a beef dish that her friend had prepared. After nearly a day of relentless online bashing and 'controversy', the actress clarified that it was a buffalo meat dish.
Presumably to avoid controversy and to save herself from the so-called "gau-rakshaks", the 42-year-old actress' statement on Twitter said that she did not mean to hurt religious sentiments. Kajal also deleted the video clip from her Instagram and Facebook accounts after a deluge of negative and abusive comments.
"A video of me at a friend's lunch said that there was a beef dish at the table. That's a miscommunication. What was shown was buffalo meat, that is legally available meat.
"I'm issuing this clarification because this is a sensitive matter that may hurt religious sentiments, which is not my intention," Kajol wrote.
It's a beautiful Sunday life ! 🥘 fun and 😂😂. @foodstories_1
A post shared by Kajol Devgan (@kajol) on Apr 30, 2017 at 3:55am PDT
As we all know, beef is banned in Maharashtra and other parts of the country. And it has become heartbreakingly routine for various people, especially Muslims, to become victims of lynch mobs at the mere suspicion of beef.
Men have been beaten to death or lynched, and restaurants have been attacked and forced to close, thanks to the mere suspicion of beef.
But Kajol got plenty of online trolling and little else. This is a very good thing, for it means that at least some people can clarify the situation before being killed.
But it still does highlight the point - if she wasn't a popular actress, wife of Bollywood action hero Ajay Devgn or a Hindu, would she have gotten such a benefit of the doubt?
(Inputs from PTI)