Kollywood actor Jyothika found herself at the receiving end of online trolling and criticism after she claimed that she voted online in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. At a press meet in Chennai held for promoting her upcoming Hindi film Srikanth, a reporter asked her why she went on vacation on election day, despite starring in and backing movies with social messages. Jyothika replied that she votes every year. When the reporter corrected her, she said, “Sometimes we are outstation or we might be sick. It is a private matter. Sometimes, we might vote privately, we might do it online. Not everything has to be publicised.”
However, several internet users made fun of Jyothika’s response and questioned how she was able to vote online when that feature is not available for the rest of the country. SG Suryah, the Tamil Nadu state secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called Jyothika a “full time activist and part time actor” and alleged that she moved her children to Mumbai to be enrolled in better schools while her husband actor Suriya is a proponent of the Dravidian model.
Attacking the supposed political leaning of Jyothika and Suriya, SG Suryah added, “Her husband Suriya is a full time proponent of the allegedly great ‘Dravidian Model’ schools of Tamil Nadu. Same Jyotika wants her children to speak Hindi andb learn more languages but her husband comes to the street to howl when the New Education Policy suggests three language formula. What a shameless family this is? Absolute lying. The point is such hypocrisy also exposes how dumb these morons are!”
Kasturi Shankar, actor turned right-wing activist, also shared a video of Jyothika’s answer at the press meet and expressed her anger because she had to “wait in the sun” to vote. She said, “Ms Jyotika on why she didn't vote: 'Sometimes we are not in town'. 'We have a private life' 'Online voting is there, not everything is publicised'. Meanwhile we – who waited in the sun all day to vote. And me – who paid to change date on USA flight to after election.”
Several other users also expressed their disappointment and made fun of Jyothika for her response. One user said, “I never expected a fake feminist to get exposed this easily. Troll her without asking for a reason.”
Another user mentioned how it is better to be silent on certain issues. They said, “Silence is golden. Why open and prove how little one knows? People should learn from this and stop expecting artistes to be their voice.”