In a video that has gone viral, actor Payal Rohatgi can be seen negotiating a deal for a huge sum of money. The video claims this as proof of the fact that the fiercely pro-Hindu actress takes money to tweet against the Muslim community.
When asked about the matter, the actress defended herself against what she called an ‘outrageous charge’, saying: “This is an eight-nine-year-old video now being fished out to malign me. If you’ve seen the video, you would know that nowhere is it mentioned what the nature of the deal was or what the negotiation was about.”
Furthermore, when asked if this a case of deliberately wrong billing, she says yes without a thought. “This was a deal for an entertainment project which I was discussing. This was before demonetisation when a lot of deals were done in cash. So like I said this old video, where there is no mention of any country or community, is being used to allege that I take money to tweet against Pakistan and Muslims. It is fine to say I am seen talking cash in the video, but nowhere is there any mention of Muslims. Eight years ago, when this video was recorded, there was no Facebook, not even WhatsApp. Twitter was not popular eight years back. So where is the question of using social media to spread hatred?” she asks.
Payal wishes to reiterate that being a devoted Hindu is not akin to being anti-Muslim. “These are baseless assumptions based on extremely faulty logic. I am a proud Hindu, but that doesn’t I mean I disrespect others’ religion.”
As for her political aspirations, she says: “Agar politics hona hoga, toh hoga. Abhi toh sirf yoga. I never make plans, because whenever I do I find out God has other plans. God has given me a life and the power to think. I have a lot of Muslim friends in the entertainment industry. It’s wrong to say in India that a certain community is targeted while Hindus are allowed to flourish. This is wrong. Every community is allowed to flourish.”
Payal sees a conspiracy in the attempts to prove her an anti-Muslim Hindu. “ By twisting my words, they are trying to turn the Indian Muslim community against me. The so-called secular section of the country hates Hindus. Their intentions are not correct. I only tweet videos from third parties which wrongly try to influence one community against another. Why is mob lynching being seen as a Hindu phenomenon? Lynchings are not restricted to one community. Why are the seculars trying to degrade Hindus by talking about Hindu terrorism? If there was any such thing, there would be Hindu nations all across the world,” she concludes.
