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Swara Bhasker felt 'ashamed as Hindu' by Ram Janmbhoomi verdict, texted SRK-Salman
Swara Bhasker recalled her reaction to the 2019 Ayodhya verdict. The actor said she felt the decision was very unfair and told Muslim friends that she was really sorry and really ashamed as a Hindu.
Actor Swara Bhasker has recalled feeling "really ashamed" as a Hindu after the Supreme Court's 2019 Ayodhya verdict, saying she immediately reached out to Muslim friends including Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan to "apologise." The actor said the verdict left her "so upset" and felt "very unfair," adding that she wanted her Muslim friends to know that she did not agree with the decision.
Speaking about the Ram Janmbhoomi dispute on The Midnight Hour podcast, Swara said she messaged "all the Muslims" in her phone book after the verdict. "As a Hindu, I just want you to know that I'm really sorry, I am really ashamed, and I don't agree with this," she recalled telling them.
On November 9, 2019, a five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously awarded the disputed land for the construction of a Ram temple. The court also directed the government to provide five acres of alternative land to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for a mosque. The judgment brought the long-running title dispute to a legal conclusion.
Her comments have since sparked reactions on social media, with several users criticising her stance on the Ayodhya verdict.
Reacting to her comments, one X user said, "Swara Bhasker was upset over the Ram Mandir verdict. Sometimes I genuinely feel bad for her; she spends day and night praising Bollywood, hoping to get work, but somehow the work never comes (sic)."
A second X user wrote, "SWARA felt sorry for the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict. We feel sorry for Swara. She saw a court order. We saw Ram. Only Punyatmas can see Him (sic)."
A third X user wrote, "She's ashamed about Ram Temple & the SC order on it. So she approached all the Khans of the industry to sympathies with them. But did they seek her sympathy? She thinks she is one great female. She doesn't know what NRC, CAA or BNSS and still talks big. Have you ever heard a non-Hindu whether married to a Hindu or not, saying she or he is ashamed of the construction of a Mosque here or there? (sic)"
"They have no guts to talk anything about the dark side of non-Hindu religions. And Hindus tolerate such characters in their community. We were, we are and we will always be proud of Ram Temple. The foundation was disturbed when temples were brought down during Mughal raj. She should be supporting the restoration of the temple. There are more who were ruined by the Mughal kings. You will have many more opportunities to send messages to a lot of people (sic)."
What she said about Umar Khalid being a cupid
In the same interview, Swara Bhasker also spoke about how former student leader and research scholar at the JNU Umar Khalid played cupid in her and her husband Fahad Ahmad's love story. Fahad said Khalid, who was a close friend, gave him Swara's number and told him to call her. Swara also credited him for connecting them, saying, "Khalid was our cupid. He was the person who connected us."
Umar Khalid was arrested by Delhi Police on September 13, 2020, under the UAPA over his alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
Fahad said he followed his friend's advice and called Swara, and joked that even after three years of marriage it remained difficult to get her to answer his calls, though she answered his call within a few rings. Swara said she would not normally answer calls from unlisted numbers, but did so at the time because she was involved in the movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act and was responding to people linked to the protests. Their paths crossed during anti-CAA protests, where both were active, and their first selfie together was taken at one such rally.
Swara later revealed in February 2023 that the mystery man she had referred to in an earlier social media post was Fahad. The couple submitted their marriage documents in January 2023 and registered their marriage under the Special Marriage Act on February 16, 2023, in the presence of family and close friends. They later welcomed a baby girl, Raabiyaa, in September 2023.
