“Migrant lives matter”: Actor Abhay Deol slams celebrities who are blind to issues in India

Actor Abhay Deol on Wednesday called out “woke” Indian celebrities who have expressed their stand against racism in America over the killing of George Floyd, while remaining silent about the “systemic problems” in their own country.

There are widespread protests within the US over the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was pinned to the bottom in Minneapolis last week by a white policeman who kneeled on his neck as he gasped for breath.

Many from the industry, including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Disha Patani, Karan Johar, Tiger Shroff, Priyanka Chopra, condemned the death using the hashtag Black Lives Matter.

The “Dev D” actor uploaded an image on Instagram with hashtags “migrant lives matter, minority lives matter and poor lives matter”, the problems which have come to the fore within the wake of the coronavirus-led lockdown, preceded by the riots in northeast Delhi in February.

“Maybe it is time for these now? Now that ‘woke’ Indian celebrities and therefore the bourgeoisie substitute solidarity with fighting systemic racism in America, perhaps they’d see how it manifests in their own backyard?

“America has exported violence to the planet, they need made it a more dangerous place, it had been but inevitable that it might come karmically,” Abhay captioned the image .

The actor said it isn’t that Americans “deserve it” but urged people, including celebrities, to seem at the larger picture.

“I’m saying check out the image in its totality. I’m saying support them by calling out the systemic problems in your own country, because they end up to be one and therefore the same thing.

“I’m saying follow their lead but not their actions. Create your own actions, your own movement, relevant to your own country. that’s what the black lives matter movement is all about!”