It was Salman Khan who first made a disparaging remark against the Valmiki Samaj by calling himself a ‘bhangi’ when it came to his dancing style on a TV show in December 2017, which had Shilpa Shetty as a judge. Shilpa used a similar simile when she spoke about her choice of dressing. Both of them were subsequently booked for their casteist comments.
However, Salman’s Dabangg co-star Sonakshi Sinha does not seem to have learnt from the mistakes committed by her co-star. In an interview with radio and TV host Siddharth Kannan, Sonakshi used the B-word to speak about her not dressing up like one while going to the airport. “Main thoda purposely ghar jaake bhangi banke chali jaungi airport,” she said in the interview, adding, “You don’t want to have your camera face on all the time.” This led to a widespread reaction from the community, who went up in arms against her.
In the face of such backlash, Sonakshi had no choice but to apologise. “I have tremendous regard and respect for the Valmiki Samaj and their valuable contributions to the society and to the country. If any person or community has been hurt by the usage of any word by me, despite it being unintentional and underogatory to anyone, I humbly apologise for the same (sic)!” she tweeted.
