Kamya Panjabi supports Vir Das’ ‘Two Indias’ monologue, hopes the ‘other side’ of India changes with ‘hard work’

Actor-politician Kamya Panjabi has now come forward in support of comedian-actor Vir Das amid the row over his ‘Two Indias’ monologue. Vir Das, in a recent show at the at the John F Kennedy Centre, talked about the contrasting sides of India and said that men in our country ‘worship women during the day but gang rape them at night’.

Supporting Vir’s statement, Kamya said at a recent event, “I agree to this, Yes, there are two sides of India. Ek side aisa hai jispe humein itna garv hota hai ki hum uske liye mar mitne ke liye taiyar hain or ek aisa hai jiske liye hum umeed karte hain or kadi mehnat karte hain ki who side change ho jaye. So yeah, what is wrong in that? (There is one side of India of which we are proud of, we are ready to give our lives for that. There is this other side which we hope to change with our hard work.)”

+

The video, shared by a paparazzo account, received mixed reactions – several users slammed Kamya for her statement. Disagreeing with her, one person commented, “Vir Das tried to showcase the negative side of India internationally. If someone is representing India he should show 80% positive side of the country and not highlight the 20% negative … Every country has some nominal drawbacks in their laws which they hide from others… we can rectify our drawbacks, it’s completely our own things… Now tell me can you tolerate if some non-Indian makes jokes on flaws of India? Be ready for that.” While another one called it a “baseless statement.”

Read More: Kangana Ranaut wants action against Vir Das after bit from his show goes viral, he offers clarifications

Earlier this week, Vir shared a video on YouTube titled, ‘I come from two Indias’. The video was from his recent performance at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. A small part from the video, where Vir said, “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night,” became the epicentre of a controversy, followed by a major backlash. 

Vir Das responded to the negative reaction on his video with a statement on Twitter, an excerpt from which said: “It ends in a gigantic patriotic round of applause for a country we all love, believe in, and are proud of. That there is more to our country than the headlines, a deep beauty. That’s the point of the video and the reason for the applause.”