Richa Chadha calls DD journalist Ashok Shrivastav, BJP’s Kapil Mishra sexist after row over ad

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, May 14

Bollywood actor Richa Chadha called out Indian public broadcaster Doordharshan’s senior consulting editor Ashok Shrivastava and Bharatiya Janata Party’s ever-controversial leader Kapil Mishra for tweets that have criticised as being misogynistic.

Shrivastava, a senior journalist, said in a since-deleted tweet in Hindi: “This is a good initiative @findabed_in, but maybe you should have chosen better brand ambassadors. Or, if nothing else, better photos”.

To which, Chadha replied: “Shocked to find that such a misogynistic and evil person has been hired by the Doordarshan, India’s national public service broadcaster. At a time when everyone is doing literally all they can to help, he simply cannot help but out himself as a pervert”.

Besides Chadha, the campaign also features actors Swara Bhaskar and Sunny Leone.   

Mishra waded into this row by defending Shrivastava’s tweet and accusing the women of what he termed “cheap sexuality”.

“Ashokji asked a question out of his duty as a journalist. An advertisement about hospital beds and deaths caused COVID-19 should be compassionate. This is an attempt to sell cheap sexuality,” he tweeted.

To this, Chadha replied that BJP leader Suresh Prabhu, a former union minister, had also endorsed the campaign.

“Perhaps you should ask that question to @iimunofficial who made the ad. Your colleague and minister @sureshpprabhu also endorsed the initiative,” she said.

The find a bed initiative has been launched by India’s International Movement to Unite Nations, a youth organisation that has its headquarters in Mumbai. Besides the three women and the minister, actors Vishal Singh, Sunny and Ranvijay Singh, and chef Ranveer Brar, have also lent their faces to the campaign.