Jyotika, the alleged actress, recently expressed immense support for the protests that took place in Delhi and across India. She claimed to be deeply moved, even lamenting that she might not be able to raise her own children with the same kind of spirit. She passionately praised the youth for their success, placed the blame squarely on the police, and declared her full support.
It is a welcome sentiment, certainly. But the public must ask: by what standards should we judge whether such support from a public figure is truly valid?
There are a few criteria. First, does the actress possess sound general knowledge, through education or significant personal achievements, that would make her opinion worth valuing? Second, is she known as a person of integrity whose views are worth following?
Let us examine, with examples, how Jyotika measures up against these standards.
Criterion One: Basic General Knowledge
Every citizen of India knows that an election is a democratic festival that occurs every five years. We go to a polling station to cast our ballot. Even an uneducated layperson, a poor individual, or someone who has never stepped foot in a school would be aware of this process.
Yet, it comes as a huge shock to realize that Jyotika, despite being born and raised in Mumbai and having attended college, lacks this basic general knowledge.
During a press interaction, specifically after she had skipped the election to go on an overseas holiday and returned to give an interview, journalists questioned her about it. She keeps expressing opinions on topics like democracy and fascism. When asked why she didn’t vote in the election, she replied, “Elections happen every year, don’t they? Do I have to vote every year? Even if I didn’t vote [officially], I cast my vote privately online. I vote every year. Sometimes you might be out of station… sometimes we might be away… it’s a private matter; you don’t always have to… so I don’t know… sometimes privately… there is an online option too, right?”
சமூக பொறுப்பை குறித்து பேசும் நீங்களே வாக்களிக்க வராதது ஏன்.? செய்தியாளரின் கேள்விக்கு ஜோதிகா கொடுத்த ரியாக்ஷன்..!#Chennai | #Jyothika | #Srikanth | #Vote | #Surya | #PolimerNews pic.twitter.com/sb7AxqwEp2
— Polimer News (@polimernews) May 3, 2024
Let that sink in.
This is an actress who lacks basic general knowledge: elections in India don’t happen every year, and an online voting system hasn’t been introduced yet. When she makes such a statement in the public domain, one has to seriously question the extent of her general knowledge.
And yet, she feels qualified to lecture the nation on democracy, fascism, and civil disobedience.
Criterion Two: The Shining Double Standards
This is where Jyotika truly “shines.”
Initially, the stance taken by Jyotika and Suriya before the public was that they would never implement the New Education Policy in Tamil Nadu and would never allow Hindi to be taught, claiming it was detrimental.
But here is the thing about double standards: “practicing what you preach” is what demonstrates the absence of them.
Regarding their two children, they studied at a school in Adyar, Chennai, up to the sixth or seventh grade. They did not study in a Tamil-medium matriculation school. They studied under the International Board syllabus. People are well aware of the differences between the International Board syllabus and the Matriculation syllabus; a simple comparison between the two types of schools makes this evident.
The New Education Policy was introduced precisely to elevate the Matriculation syllabus to international or CBSE standards. Yet, you oppose it.
If you truly oppose it, you should have had your two children educated under the Tamil Nadu state syllabus, after all, you argued that the existing syllabus was good and didn’t need upgrading. But your children studied under the International syllabus.
Just when one might think, “Well, at least they were studying somewhere,” it turns out they moved to Mumbai. They have been there for at least four years now, it seems the schools in Chennai aren’t of particularly high quality. So, the family moved to Mumbai and settled there to ensure both children could attend top-tier schools.
And which school, you ask?
The Dhirubhai Ambani International School.
Ironically, given Suriya and Jyotika’s usual chants of “Down with Ambani,” both children attend the very school funded by the Ambani family.
Now, it is perfectly fine for them to get a good education but that isn’t the issue. The irony is that when the New Education Policy was introduced to provide the very same infrastructure, knowledge, and high-quality education found in that Dhirubhai Ambani school, they opposed it.
The Hindi Paradox
In an interview, Jyotika mentioned, “I want my children to speak multiple languages. My daughter speaks Hindi well, but my son simply refuses to speak it. They say it would be good to learn it. They say, ‘No Hindi.’ The son doesn’t like it. So, they would say, ‘Please, no Hindi’, literally saying ‘Hindi nahi’ (no Hindi). I really wish they would speak Hindi; I really wish they would speak Hindi, that they must speak so many other languages.”
Now, their children apparently have to study, learn, speak, and do everything related to Hindi. Yet, the stance of these two is that children from our families shouldn’t even study Hindi at all.
A new video regarding this has just been released on the Ambani School’s YouTube channel. In it, Suriya’s son speaks in English for quite a while, and he speaks brilliantly. He mentions that he is developing a new technology based on AI (Artificial Intelligence). Apparently, this technology is for translation – translating what is spoken in Hindi into various other languages. He seems to be working on this invention and is looking for investors; once he secures them, he plans to implement it for other languages.
“My project is called Sheila. It’s a Hindi assistant right now. Soon I hope to implement it in many other languages. And essentially, it speaks to you in real-time, gives you real-time feedback, and has multiple sub-genres where you can talk to it, ask questions, see your mistakes, view your profile…”
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So, their son is building a Hindi translation tool. He is learning Hindi. He is speaking Hindi. He is creating technology around Hindi.
But Jyotika and Suriya’s political stance is that no one else’s children should study Hindi.
This is the definition of hypocrisy.
The Keeladi Museum Incident: VIP Culture at Its Worst
A museum has been established at Keeladi – a museum dedicated to the Keeladi excavations. Suriya, Jyotika, and their children visited it to see the exhibits. Su. Venkatesan, the MP for the Madurai constituency, acts almost like a dedicated tour guide for this museum; that seems to be his only job. He is constantly seen posing with celebrities and spouting revolutionary rhetoric.
On one occasion, the museum was shut down – locking out the public, so that Suriya, Jyotika, their two children, and Su. Venkatesan could tour the excavation museum undisturbed. Meanwhile, hundreds of schoolchildren were left waiting outside in the scorching sun for two hours.
Let that sink in.
The same Suriya who constantly preaches about equality in his films made school students and the general public wait outside in the heat just so he could visit the museum without any hassle.
And Jyotika said nothing at that time.
It is surprising to hear Jyotika speak about issues like the Delhi protests, considering she belongs to that arrogant crowd that thinks, “We are VIPs, we are big shots. If we are touring the museum, what would happen to our status if ordinary students from the Tamil Nadu Matriculation syllabus came along and viewed it alongside us?”
The Protest Paradox
Regarding what Jyotika said, expressing regret that she couldn’t raise her children to be like those protesters (Abhijit, Sourav, etc.) and saluting the latter – there was nothing stopping her.
She could have sent both her son and daughter to join the protests, shout slogans, hurl stones at the police, and attack the RAF forces. Who said they shouldn’t?
Should other people’s children be the ones to protest, fight the police, face legal cases, and preach revolution? Meanwhile, their children study at elite schools like the Ambani School and are groomed for high-flying careers.
This is a truly appalling double standard.
Who Are These Protesters?
The individuals Jyotika is currently praising – Abhijit Dipke, Sourav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, and others who organized those Delhi protests were neither great martyrs nor intellectuals, nor were they particularly distinguished in their academics.
There is a political party in India called the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); they are currently in power in Punjab. Prior to that, they governed Delhi for ten years. All these individuals were office-bearers of that very party.
The Delhi Assembly elections took place last year, and in that election, the people defeated the Aam Aadmi Party and voted them out of power. The Aam Aadmi Party itself is a party that emerged from such protests and agitations – a party that rose to power through such means. This is a party that was driven out by the people because, in ten years, they failed to deliver on even a single one of the issues they had championed during their protests.
The Kanguva Tantrum
When the movie Kanguva was released, Jyotika posted a very angry status update. She lashed out at those who criticized the film, asking how they could speak ill of it when her husband had performed so well, and even went so far as to curse them, saying they would come to ruin and never prosper, simply because she couldn’t tolerate the criticism.
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She couldn’t control her anger because her husband acted in a film produced by her child.
Now, if Jyotika gets so angry because of criticism of a film, can the Aam Aadmi Party, which has earned crores of rupees from the liquor scam in Delhi and thousands of other scams, remain silent?
So, she called all the little kids in her party and started a party called “Cockroach” and organized a protest saying that they could come and bring India to a standstill. In that, more than 2000 rowdies were arrested, and the people who raped the women called all these rowdies and attacked the police and created a riot and brought about a change of government here like what happened in Nepal, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka.
This was a completely political incident.
The Innocent Deceived
We will not say that all those who participated in it were party members. When a movement occurs in a country like India, 90% of the innocent people believe in it and then get deceived.
Today, people have understood what this fake struggle is all about. Who are the people behind it? People have understood all this.
Therefore, Jyotika, who does not have even a little common sense and cannot follow the opinions you can say in your life, even a little, it is better to avoid interfering in such matters.
Even if you interfere, it is your right. But the people who can see this – how fake are such actresses? How do they live in their own lives? What is the stand of their family in this public life that they can breach?
We inform you that you should examine all this later and support such actresses accordingly.
The Mask Falls
Jyotika stands before the public as a champion of the oppressed, a voice for the voiceless, a supporter of protests and revolutionary youth. But behind the mask is a woman who:
Lacks basic knowledge about India’s electoral process
Opposes educational reforms while sending her children to the most elite schools
Preaches against Hindi while her son builds Hindi translation tools
Lectures on equality while shutting down museums for public schoolchildren
Praises protesters while keeping her own children far from the action
Gets enraged over film criticism but supports political movements that cause chaos
This is not integrity. This is not principle. This is performance.
The people of India are not fools. They see through the act. They understand that for some, revolution is a costume to wear on Instagram, while their children are safely tucked away in luxury schools, learning Hindi, building AI tools, and preparing for high-flying global careers.
The only revolution Jyotika truly believes in is the one that keeps her family comfortable while the children of others do the fighting.
Dr SG Suryah is the State President, Youth Wing, BJP Tamil Nadu.
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