Abhimanyu Mathur (BOMBAY TIMES; September 15, 2018)

On a recent visit to Delhi, Kangana Ranaut joined some leading women’s rights advocates in an event that celebrated the power of women. Kangana, along with Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, and social worker Shaina NC, and Gul Panag, took part in a roundtable discussion on how women can strike a balance while wearing different hats as part of the Xin Philanthropy Conference. The half-hour session saw participants share their ideas of feminism and draw from their personal experiences of working for women’s rights.

Beginning the session, Kangana said, “It is so shameful that we still have to fight for things like the right to wear what we want or simply the right to go out at the time we want to, without being judged. When you have to fight for what is obvious, it means the society is in a bad shape.” Talking about feminism, the actress added that people who act against women and the idea of feminism are the ones who deserve to be trolled on social media. Kangana said, “Most people misunderstand feminism. Feminism is an idea. But the world is not fair. You can’t expect that you will be readily given your rights and if something is right, it will come to you. That’s not how the world functions. And this is something that we need to agree on and fight for. And anybody who goes against it is someone who needs to be shamed. That is the kind of person you need to shame on social media, not the ones who are actively working for feminism.”

Swati Maliwal said that most people feel they can get away with what they say and do against women because there is no fear of repercussions. She said, “People have come to believe they can do whatever they want to a woman and the system can’t harm them.”

Actress Gul Panag, who was moderating the session, added, “Nothing will change unless women support other women. We tend to run other women down. That’s the default setting, that we don’t empower each other enough and we compete, which is a patriarchal hangover. Questioning the status quo is the first responsibility of our generation.”

As the conversation moved to the remarks and comments women face in the public sphere, Shaina NC said, “It was shocking. Women in India are sometimes viewed only as objects and used as items. It’s time we demystify this kind of an image of women and realise that on one hand, we talk about Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi and worship women, and on the other hand, we just go out and abuse them. It’s a fight against a regressive, chauvinistic mindset.”