Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor attended the oath-taking ceremony of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in South Mumbai’s Azad Maidaan on Thursday (December 5). Several other Bollywood celebrities and businessmen also graced the grand event, however, Shraddha’s presence has raised eyebrows. Here’s why:
In 2019, Shraddha had joined hundreds of people protesting against the felling of around 3,000 trees in Mumbai’s Aarey forest for the Mumbai Metro car shed project. This was done when Maharashtra was being governed by the BJP government headed by Fadnavis. Later, the Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the BMC from further cutting of trees.
In 2020, when Uddhav Thackeray came to power and became the CM, he had scrapped the Aarey car shed project. At that time, Shraddha had lauded Thackeray’s move and called it a ‘huge win’ for all those who came together together to save Aarey.
Now, her presence at the swearing-in ceremony of Fadnavis has raised several questions. Some social media users suggested that Shraddha protesting against the cutting of trees was a ‘PR move’ during the release of her film Saaho.
Shraddha slammed for attending Fadnavis’ swearing-in ceremony
Several pictures and videos of the actress from the event have gone viral on social media. Reacting to the actress’ photo from the oath-taking ceremony, an X user pointed out how the actress showed support for Fadnavis, despite opposing his project five years ago.
“Make sure whom you follow and whom you keep as a Role Model🤌. Someone you bragging upon for supporting your cause, can just be for personal gain. And this comparison proves it very well. In this case, it was the movie ‘Saaho’. Kal jiske project ko oppose karne me involved thi didi, aaj usi ke ceremony ke celebration ka hissa hai.”
Reacting to the post, another user wrote, “Mumbaikars were deprived of Metro because of delays due to this- almost 4-5 yrs… These stars should be punished and boycotted.”
“And the worse part is that she showed up shamelessly,” read another comment.
“Signs of dumbness, trust me she can’t even pin point Aarey on Mumbai’s map,” another X user commented under the post.
Here’s how others reacted:
When Shraddha protested against Fadnavis’ Aarey project
Shraddha had joined the protest to save Mumbai’s Aarey forest in 2019. She held placards and protested against the felling of trees. In fact, she braved heavy rains to join the protest and was also LIVE on her Instagram account during the protest.
In October 2019, Shraddha wrote on Instagram, “This is wrong and should not be happening” and “Mumbaikars, wake up.” She also attended the protest wearing a T-shirt with ‘Save Aarey’ written on it and held up posters at the protest site.
Shraddha’s old Instagram story |
Shraddha has not reacted to the criticism yet.
Other Bollywood celebrities who are present at the swearing-in ceremony are Sanjay Dutt Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Janhvi Kapoor, Shailesh Lodha, Varun Dhawan, Maniesh Paul and Arjun Kapoor.
The Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 resulted in a decisive victory for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, securing a landslide win with 235 seats. This marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.
