Article 15 actress Sayani Gupta, most recently seen in Inside Edge Season 2 streaming on Amazon Prime, has triggered a debate on Twitter asking whether celebrities who were seen all smiles in a picture with Narendra Modi would question the Prime Minister on the attack on students of Jamia Millia Islamia who were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“On behalf of the students of Jamia & AMU request at least one of you to tweet or message Mr.Modi condemning this act of police brutality and violence against students. The time has come to speak up guys. Yes? No? May be? @RanveerOfficial @karanjohar @ayushmannk @RajkummarRao,” Sayani posted on Twitter along with the picture, which dates to January 10, 2019, and tagging four of the celebrities seen in it.

Among the Bollywood luminaries who met Modi in New Delhi that day were an array of young actors, including Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Vicky Kaushal, Varun Dhawan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar and Sidharth Malhotra; director Rohit Shetty and producer Ekta Kapoor.

The Telegraph

The meeting had been organised by filmmaker Karan Johar.

So far, Stree star Rajkummar, Uri leading man Vicky, Marjaavaan’s Sidharth Malhotra, Bala actor Ayushmann and Pati Patni Aur Woh’s Bhumi are those from among the smiling lot of stars who have aired their views.

Bhumi took a neutral stand, saying violence was not a tool to make the country better. “...What the students faced has shaken me and my heart goes out to them and I protest the way the situation was handled. However, I'm also shocked seeing how the protest turned violent,” she said.

Mainstream Malayalam actors too have come out against police atrocities in universities. Popular actress Parvathy Thiruvothu Tweeted, “Jamia and Aligarh …Terrorism !” Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran took to Facebook to comment: “Revolution is homegrown. Always. #Rise.”