Actor Rajkummar Rao is being bashed online after a now-deleted Instagram comment led users to conclude that he was admitting he had been pressured into last year’s ‘Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai’ propaganda song.
The backlash followed after Rao took to Instagram on Wednesday to post in support of the ongoing students’ protest in New Delhi, led by the Cockroach Janta Party. A user asked him in the comments about his past participation in the Modi song alongside other Bollywood celebrities. Rao replied, but then deleted the comment soon after.
The user, @om.ar510, had written to Rao, “I had huge respect for you man… you lost it with one propaganda song!!! I never miss any of your movies, never thought you would sold off so easily, you were supposed to lead the new generation of artists… instead!!!”
Rao’s lengthy reply included the line “You can never know the pressure.”
Although he didn’t explain or confirm that he was talking about the song, he soon took the comment down altogether.
The full reply, according to screenshots shared online, read: “I can never sell my soul brother. And one song does not define who I am, what I stand for or what my ideologies in life are. You can never know the pressure. I stand for what is right and what keeps us united as human beings. As long as my conscience is clean and I work the hardest nothing else matters. People who know me personally know who I am and hopefully one day I’ll be able to earn back your respect. I wish you luck and happiness in life. God bless you.”
In his original post, Rao had appealed for peace, dialogue and compassion during the student protest over the NEET-UG exam paper leak case, saying that the country’s progress depends on a fair education system. He urged students and authorities to engage each other with empathy rather than confrontation.
“When young people feel unheard, it is a reminder that society must listen. Every voice deserves to be heard with dignity, fairness and respect. At the same time, peace must remain our greatest strength, ” Rao wrote.
He added that students should be allowed to express themselves responsibly while authorities responded with openness. “Let students express themselves responsibly. Let authorities respond with empathy, openness and a genuine willingness to listen. Real and lasting change is built through conversation, not confrontation. That is what is needed now–more than ever. All of us collectively want one thing: growth for our nation, and the foundation for that growth is fair education. Jai Hind,” he said.
The post was shared days after Delhi Police cracked down on Monday on thousands of people, mostly students, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, along with a protest against irregularities in the exam system and NEET paper leaks. Other actors, including Sonakshi Sinha, Naseeruddin Shah and Imran Khan, have also voiced support for the students and appealed for calm.
However, instead of drawing support, Rao’s post triggered a wave of criticism, with users repeatedly tying his statement back to the Modi song. One user wrote, “No, please go and shoot another song for Modi, just like you did ‘Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai’. You were perfectly comfortable singing his praises then, so why speak up now? Maybe silence would suit you better. I always admired you as an actor, but this is honestly disappointing.”
Others mocked the post as vague and performative. “SOCIETY MUST LISTEN? so many words used for saying nothing,” one comment read, while another said, “Didn’t quite hit the spot, please try again with a different prompt.”
Another user wrote, “Hey GPT, write a few words regarding the ongoing student’s protest, where it should look like I’m taking a stand but the language should not make any minister or govt feel offended while making some of my followers think that I’m supporting them but it should maintain a sense of neutrality overall and make me look like I’m a patriot. Don’t name any minister/govt just use word ‘society’. Play as safely as possible.”
Several comments mockingly brought up the Modi song directly. “Modi hai toh mumkin hai.. we all remember who were there in the video,” one user wrote, while another asked, “Can you rephrase it in a song please? Something that goes ‘MoDi! modi! Modi hai toh MuMkin Haiiii? We haven’t forgotten about.”
Some questioned his timing and motives, with one user asking, “Did Modi give you the permission to post this?” Another wrote, “Just thought about you this morning. Was wondering where you went. Thanks for growing a spine,” followed by a sarcastic remark that “A sudden rise in bone density that causes to grow spine might be a symptom of a disease.”
Another asked, “Brother, why so soon, you could have let a couple of days pass before posting. Wasn’t that a bit hasty?” One person wrote, “You were never with us and never will be, you’re just playing diplomacy.”
Other reactions were blunter, with people calling the post “so vanilla” and “too neutral,” some questioning his silence on stone pelting incidents involving police during the protests and a few simply calling him a “coward” and telling him to “shut up.”
