Why people are politicising it: Oberoi on 'crass' meme

Agencies
May 21, 2019

New Delhi, May 21: Reacting to the heavy criticism on social media after he shared a meme on actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's personal life, Vivek Oberoi said Monday there was much ado about a "non-issue" and people were "politicising" the post unnecessarily.

Oberoi, who reportedly dated the former Miss World in the early 2000s, posted a meme with three panels, one with him, another with Salman Khan and a third with her husband Abhishek and daughter Aaradhya on Twitter.

The meme, a take on the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the results of which will be declared on Thursday, was called "crass" and "distasteful".

"Haha! creative! No politics here... just life," Oberoi captioned the photo and credited the Twitter account that shared it.

Asked about the controversy over the tweet, Oberoi told reporters he doesn't understand "why people are making a big deal about this."

"Someone sent me a creative meme where I was being made fun of. I just wrote, 'Ha ha,' and appreciated the other person. When someone makes fun of you, you should laugh and not take it so seriously.

"I even wrote there that there's nothing political about it. It's life and such things happen in life that you are with someone and then you move on in life."

The actor said Aishwarya is "happy in her life and I am happy in mine".

"It's just a small meme. To take it so seriously and then give such a big reaction... The people, who are in the meme, haven't objected to it. But everyone has politicised it."

Aishwarya is currently in Cannes for the prestigious film festival.

Oberoi said there are people who just politicise "such non-issues" and drew a parallel with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

"Sometimes didi demand people to be put in jail for meme, and now some people want Vivek Oberoi to be behind bars. They couldn't stop my film but now want to stop me. This is kiddish, " he said.

Social media was quick to blast the actor, who is currently promoting his upcoming film "PM Narendra Modi", over his "distasteful" tweet.

Actor Sonam Kapoor called the meme "disgusting and classless"' in a tweet while Urmila Matondkar, who is the Congress candidate from Mumbai North, called out the actor for not having the courtesy of pulling down the tweet despite widespread criticism.

Reacting to Sonam's tweet, Oberoi said, "Sometimes people write such things on Twitter to appear cool."

"I would like to ask Sonam what work has she done for women empowerment? I have been working on women empowerment since Sonam was working on her makeover.

"I would just tell Sonam, 'You are a good girl. I have a lot of respect and love for your father. But what you have written, to that I would like to give you a small advice. God bless you and wish you all the best in your career but please overact less on screen and overreact less on social media.'"

The National Commission for Women sent a notice to the actor, asking him to give an explanation for sharing the "insulting" and "misogynist" tweet.

In the notice, the NCW said the actor should not have carried a minor girl and a woman's picture for a sly reference. A similar reaction came from Delhi and Maharashtra chapters of women commissions.

Oberoi said it's a good thing that a notice has been sent to him as he would want to meet the women commission and put his point.

"I'll also like to explain myself because I don't think I have done anything wrong," he said.

Oberoi said he doesn't have any issue in saying "sorry" and quipped he is an "expert in apologising."

"You must have seen my videos, memes where I am holding my ears to apologise. All I am saying is that please tell me what wrong have I done. If I have done anything wrong, I will apologise," he said.

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News Network
July 5,2020

New Delhi, Jul 5: With highest-ever single-day spike of 24,850 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stood at 6,73,165, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Out of the total cases, 2,44,814 are active cases. On the other hand, India's cured/discharged patients count crossed the 4 lakh mark with 4,09,082 patients cured/discharged and one patient migrated.

As many as 613 deaths due to coronavirus were reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the death toll in the country to 19,268.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that collective and focused efforts for containment and management of COVID-19 by the government of India along with the States/UTs have led to the number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients rise to 4,09,082 as of today.

"During the last 24 hours, a total of 14,856 COVID-19 patients have been cured. So far, there are 1,64,268 more recovered patients than COVID-19 active cases. This takes the national recovery rate amongst COVID-19 patients to 60.77 per cent," the ministry said.

"With 786 labs in government sector and 314 private labs, there are as many as 1,100 labs in India," it added.

As per the Health Ministry, coronavirus cases in Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has breached the 2 lakh mark with 2,00,064 cases including 8,671 deaths.

Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 fresh COVID-19 cases and 60 deaths today, taking total cases to 1,11,151 and death toll to 1,510. Number of active cases stands at 46,860, according to the State Health Department.

Delhi's coronavirus tally nears the 1 lakh mark with 99,444 cases and the number of people succumbing to the virus stands at 3,067 in the national capital. As many as 9,873 RT-PCR tests and 13,263 rapid antigen tests were conducted today in Delhi. Total tests done so far stands at 6,43,504.

Meanwhile, Indian Council of Medical Research informed that the total number of samples tested up to July 4 is 97,89,066 of which 2,48,934 samples were tested yesterday.

There were seven new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours in Chandigarh, taking total cases to 466 including 395 recoveries and six deaths.
Himachal Pradesh Health Department informed that COVID-19 cases reach 1,048 in the state, of which, 309 cases are active and 715 have recovered.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 998 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a media bulletin released by AP state COVID nodal officer.

A total of 1,155 COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, taking the total number of active cases to 8,161 in the state, an official said. According to the official data, a total of 18,761 people have been cured while 785 people have died due to the virus in the state.

Eighteen more personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. There are total 151 active cases and 270 have recovered till date.

While, in the last 24 hours, 36 more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel tested positive for COVID-19 and 33 have recovered. There are 526 active cases and 817 personnel have recovered till date.

In Rajasthan, 224 fresh COVID-19 positive cases and 6 deaths were reported today. The total number of cases rose to 19,756 including 3,640 active cases and 453 deaths.

Odisha reported 469 new COVID19 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 9,070 including 5,934 recovered cases and 3,090 active cases, according to the health department.

Uttarakhand reported 31 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 3,124. Recovery rate among COVID-19 patients stands at 80.79 per cent.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Paris, Mar 2: A global agency says the spreading new virus could make the world economy shrink this quarter, for the first time since the international financial crisis more than a decade ago.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says Monday in a special report on the impact of the virus that the world economy is still expected to grow overall this year and rebound next year.

But it lowered its forecasts for global growth in 2020 by half a percentage point, to 2.4 per cent, and said the figure could go as low as 1.5 per cent if the virus lasts long and spreads widely.

The last time world GDP shrank on a quarter-on-quarter basis was at the end of 2008, during the depths of the financial crisis. On a full-year basis, it last shrank in 2009.

The OECD said China's reduced production is hitting Asia particularly hard but also companies around the world that depend on its goods.

It urged governments to act fast to prevent contagion and restore consumer confidence.

The Paris-based OECD, which advises developed economies on policy, said the impact of this virus is much higher than past outbreaks because "the global economy has become substantially more interconnected, and China plays a far greater role in global output, trade, tourism and commodity markets."

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News Network
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: India's COVID-19 count crossed 60 thousand on Sunday, with Maharashtra being the worst-affected due to the infection so far, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The number of total confirmed cases in the country rose to 62,939, including 19,358 patients who have been cured and discharged or migrated, according to the Ministry.

The total number of active cases in the country, therefore, stands at 41,472.

The number of deaths in the country due to the infection reached 2,109 on Sunday.

While Maharashtra, with 20,228 cases is the worst-affected state, it is followed by Gujarat with 7,796 and the national capital, Delhi, with 6,542 cases. Tamil Nadu, is marginally behind Delhi with 6,535 cases.

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