Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Hindi poet Kumar Vishwas has come under severe criticism over his covert remarks about Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha’s interfaith marriage with Zaheer Iqbal.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Monday slammed Vishwas, who was formerly associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), for his remarks at a poetry event in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut. Vishwas said: “Teach your children about Ramayana. Otherwise, it might so happen that while your house is named ‘Ramayana’, someone else might take away your household’s ‘Lakshmi’.”
A snippet of Vishwas’s remarks at the event has gone viral on social media, drawing heavy criticism from netizens and others alike.
The poet’s remarks seemed like a jibe at the Sinha family since Shatrughan Sinha’s Mumbai home is named ‘Ramayana’ and his actress daughter Sonakshi Sinha recently married her long-time beau Zaheer Iqbal.
Slamming Vishwas, Congress leader Shrinate asked if he would make such “lewd comments on someone else’s daughter and get applause.”
“If you have a daughter in your house, would you make lewd comments on someone else’s daughter and get cheap applause? By doing this, you can already guess to what extent you have fallen. Kumar Vishwas ji, you not only made a cheap comment on Sonakshi Sinha’s inter-religious marriage, but you also exposed your real thinking about women,” said Shrinate.
The Congress leader further said: “Your words ‘otherwise someone else will take away the Shrilakshmi of your house’. Is a girl some kind of thing that someone can take away somewhere? Till when will people like you keep considering a woman as the property of her father first and then of her husband? The foundation of marriage and marriage is equality, mutual trust and mutual love. No one takes anyone anywhere”.
Several netizens also slammed Vishwas on social media, especially on X. Some said that his remarks revealed his true thinking, while others asked as to why he was so bothered about someone else’s personal life.
Speaking to IANS, Lok Sabha Tariq Anwar expressed his disapproval, saying, “Vishwas is an educated poet, and as a poet, he should not make personal comments like this. It is inappropriate to interfere in someone’s private life.”