India has become “more polarised” when it comes to religion, with people desperately searching for anything that gives them a sense of “identity,” said award winning actor Vidya Balan.
The actor said that the nation “did not have a religious identity” before but the situation is different today.
“I feel we are definitely more polarised. As a nation, we did not have a religious identity before but now I don’t know why… It’s not just politics, it is also social media, because we are all lost in this world and looking for an identity, which we don’t have organically, we are looking for things to attach ourselves to,” Vidya Balan said in an interview with Unfiltered by Samdish.
She went on to say: “So, everything has become… Whether it is religion or this wokeness, with people saying, ‘This is who I am,’ but you don’t know who you are! Which is why you are going, looking for these things. We all need a sense of belonging and in this world, with the proliferation of social media, we are lonelier than ever. At a very superficial level, we are attaching ourselves to ideas and concepts conveniently… The world is polarised today, it is not just one country.”
Vidya who is a deeply spiritual person and who does her puja every day, said that she never donates to people asking for funds to build a religious structure and said she would rather give her funds to areas involving healthcare, sanitation and education.
“Health, sanitation and education. If someone asks me for donation to build a religious structure, it can be anything, I never donate. I say if you are building a hospital, a school or a toilet, I will happily contribute. But not to anymore religious institutions.”
“Politics se bohot darr lagta hai, phir humko ban-van kardege toh… It hasn’t happened with me, thankfully, but now actors have are wary about talking about politics because you don’t know who will get offended. Especially around the release of a film, it is the work of 200 people at stake, so I just say keep me away from politics,” she said.
“This has been happening because of social media, people take offense over everything. They give their inputs even on matters they don’t know much about. So it’s best to zip your mouth and keep working,” she added.
