Hatred has been normalised: Swara Bhaskar

The tirade against 'love jihad' recently on a prominent news channel (where panelists were heard asking that cross-communal marriages be forbidden by law) provoked strong protests from the liberals. Reacting to these protests, a food delivery app agreed to 'look into' its advertorial stakes in the said channel.

But activist-actor Swara Bhasker said that she was not convinced by the app's liberal leniency.

"I think that was just a standard response. We live in times when hate and lies have been normalised," said the Bollywood actor.

Swara accused mainstream news of fanning and fuelling hatred.

"The mainstream news media today has become the most unreliable and irresponsible source of rabble-rousing. When they are called out and their hate and bullying are held accountable, they respond with trolling and more hate. But this is the pushback to hate from normal rational citizens. We must hold the media and the government accountable as citizens and as taxpayers," added Bhaskar.