Sai Pallavi's comments on Kashmiri Pandit exodus, cow vigilantism divides social media

Actor Sai Pallavi's comments on religious violence where she spoke about how the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in the past is no different from the cow vigilantism in the present, has sparked a row online.

The Shyam Singha Roy actor, who is currently promoting her upcoming film, Virata Parvam, said in a recent interview, "Some days ago, The Kashmir Files was released. In that, they showed how Kashmiri Pandits living there at that time were killed. Recently, we saw how a Muslim man driving a vehicle transporting cows was stopped by some people, who hit him and forced him to chant slogans of Jai Shri Ram. So what happened then, and what happened now, we can't see any difference. You should not hurt anyone on religious lines.”

Virata Parvam, which also stars Rana Daggubati, is inspired by true events from the 1990s. It chronicles a love story against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement in the Telangana region. Sai Pallavi plays the character of Vennela, who falls in love with Naxal leader Ravanna (Rana Daggubati).

When asked about her political inclination, she said, "I was born and brought up in a family which has neutral political thought. My family has no strong political leanings but we have been asked to be on the side of the oppressed. I have heard about left-wing and right-wing thoughts. But I don't know which is right," she added.

When asked if she felt any sympathy for Naxals while shooting for Virata Parvam, Sai Pallavi stressed that she does not believe in violence as a form of 'communication'. 

"Just like you want peace in the country, they might have believed in violence. But I think it is a wrong form of communication. But those days (referring to the period in the film), they might have thought they would achieve something good for the society by adopting violence. They thought it was the correct way of achieving their goal in those circumstances, but we cannot judge what is correct and what is wrong," she said.

Sai Pallavi's comments have received mixed reactions online with Twitter users divided between trolling her and showering her with praise for her courage.