Alia Bhatt criticises JNU violence, says we 'must look at truth in the eye and acknowledge we are a house at war with itself'

Alia Bhatt spoke on the recent attacks on students in New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University . The actress wrote on Instagram on Monday Indian citizens should “reject any ideology that seeks to divide, oppress, and promote violence.” She confessed it was “time to stop pretending that all is fine,” especially at a time when peaceful citizens, particularly students, become victims of physical assaults on an almost-daily basis. “We must look truth in the eye, and acknowledge that we are a house at war with itself,” her statement read. Check out Alia Bhatt’s statement

Violence had broken out inside the university campus on Sunday night as masked men, armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property. At least 34 people, including JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured. Speaking to reporters  in Madhya Pradesh while promoting his upcoming film, actor Varun Dhawan had echoed Alia’s concerns, “I think we cannot stay neutral in such issues. You have to condemn such attacks. It is dangerous and sad if masked people enter an educational institution and all this (assault, vandalism) happens.” Queried on whether there was a “divide” in the Hindi film industry on the incident, going by the vast number of tweets and posts on social media from the fraternity, the 32- year-old actor evaded a direct reply, and said, “I am not going to get into what people are saying on Twitter on this issue.” “Are you still on the fence? Apolitical? In need of more information? If yes, then you either are a bigot, a coward or a dumbf***. I’m a liberal so you get to choose,” director Zoya Akhtar had written in her Instagram Stories.