ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) has lodged a complaint against actress and stand-up comic Surleen Kaur and entertainment company Shemaroo for insulting the organisation and Hindus. The organisation has sent a complaint to the Mumbai police against a stand-up show hosted by Kaur, which was published by Shemaroo in various online platforms.
In the complaint released by ISKCON vice president and spokesperson Radharamn Das, they have said that the video published by the company on different social media sites, YouTube channel, on the website www.shemaroome.com etc. is highly defamatory towards ISKCON society as well as towards the followers of Hinduism. They have added that the language used by Kaur is highly objectionable and defamatory, and it has caused great pain to the followers of Sanatan Dharma, Hindus and ISKCON worldwide devotees.
Dear Sir @CPMumbaiPolice
— Radharamn Das (@RadharamnDas) May 28, 2020
Pls find our complaint agains Surleen Kaur & @ShemarooEnt for using inappropriate words for ISKCON, for our Rishis, Hindus.
This is very unfortunate that there has been narrative building against the followers of Sanatan Dharma on different platforms pic.twitter.com/ldEDY47REY
Referring to increasing incidents of insult of Hinduism in the name of entertainment, the complaint states that “there is a growing trend in India, where Hinduism/Sanatan Dharma and our Rishi-Munis, Deities etc are being constantly abused by a group of people and organizations. They are misusing the tolerant nature of the followers of Sanatan Dharma and their abuses and language and volume of abuse has only grown louder day by day.”
“There is a hidden propaganda and conspiracy to defame Sanatan Dharma, our Rishi Munis so that the youths can be easily manipulated. Through app’s like Tik-Tok etc the focus of the foreign power’s is to destroy the character of the masses so that country can be easily controlled & destroyed. We can learn this from the example of China itself. When the ancient Chinese decided to live in peace, they made the great wall of china, they thought no one can climb it due to its height”, the letter further added.
ISKCON decided to lodge the complaint after the video of Surleen Kaur went viral on social media today. Even though it was published a few months ago, the video was widely shared on social media today, which has caused the Hindu organisation to notice it. In the video, Kaur can be presenting a stand-up show where she says in Hindi, ‘no doubt we are from ISKCON, but from inside we are all harami porn lovers’.
Surleen Kaur also said that ancient Hindu saints used their little knowledge of Sanskrit to hide their clandestine activities. She claimed that the Rishis used the Sanskrit language to write erotic texts, giving the example of Kamasutra. She also made fun of erotic sculptures in Khajuraho, to make the point that Hindus are porn lovers inherently.
In the complaint against the video, ISKCON has also explained how civilisations can be destroyed by compromising human characters. They note that there are 3 ways to destroy the civilisation of a nation, destroy their family structure, destroy their education system, and lower their role models and references. They wrote, “In order to destroy the family; undermine the role of Motherhood, make her feel ashamed of being a housewife. To destroy the education: you should give no importance to the Teacher, and lower his place in society so that the students despise him. To lower the role models: you should undermine their scholars, doubt them until no one listens to them or trusts them.”
“When a conscious mother disappears, a dedicated teacher disappears and there’s a downfall of role models, who will teach the youngsters values? ISKCON was founded so that our Youths are guided towards happiness. Happy Youths can only make a strong nation,” the statement adds.
Accordingly, the organization has requested the Mumbai police to register FIR against Surleen Kaur and Shemaroo Entertainment limited under the relevant sections.
It may be noted that Shemaroo has already removed the video from various platforms where they had uploaded the same. But many people had already downloaded the same, and have subsequently uploaded on various social media sites, which had caused it to go viral.
religion, caste, creed or culture. We apologize to all brothers and sisters of the Iskcon community whose sentiments we might have unintentionally hurt. We extend our assurance that such matters will be dealt meticulously and with extreme sensitivity.@yudhistirGD
— Shemaroo (@ShemarooEnt) May 28, 2020
The company tweeted to inform that they have taken down the video, as it was found derogatory, and apologised to ISKCON. “Shemaroo is committed to ensure our content is neutral and unbiased towards any religion, caste, creed or culture. We apologize to all brothers and sisters of the Iskcon community whose sentiments we might have unintentionally hurt. We extend our assurance that such matters will be dealt meticulously and with extreme sensitivity,” they added.
