TV and film actor, Shilpa Shinde, who recently joined the Congress party, is furious at social media trolls who have given her rape threats for supporting cricketer-turned-politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu, for his recent Pulwama attack statement.

“I am going to take legal action. It is high time the authorities stepped in and cracked down on such elements who have also attacked several women journalists like Barkha Dutt and others. I call such people terrorists as well, for their actions are as bad as the LeT and JM guys,” says Shilpa, who has just signed a Marathi movie with Raqesh Bapat.

Shifting gears to Navjot Singh Sidhu, Shilpa supports her fellow party leader by saying, “What wrong did Paji say? People just want to twist his lines. Where did he support terrorism? Agreed, he might have been politically correct by not criticizing his friend, Imran Khan, but you need to understand that they have played together for years. Also, why was everyone after him to say something bad about Pakistan. He hit the nail on the head by saying that, at the end of the day, issues can only be threshed out on the peace table.”

Sidhu was removed from The Kapil Sharma show in the face of intense social media rage.

“I am totally against the new phenomenon of banning anyone whose views you don’t concur with. Sadly, CINTAA and other industry bodies are equally complicit in this. Everyone has the right to occupation; you can’t deny me the right to earn my livelihood. In the same vein, I also bat for the rights of Pakistani artists to work in Bollywood, purely on the basis of talent. I have been victim of this ban culture, so know what’s wrong with it.” She was banned from acting in TV after she walked out of Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain due to alleged differences with producer Binaifer Kohli.

When we ask about the Pulwama attack, this Bigg Boss 11 winner says, “While I condemn it wholeheartedly, we also need to accept that certain security and intelligence lapses have taken place. Else how did such a huge amount of explosives manage to land up in the SUV that smashed into the CRPF convoy on Valentine’s Day?”

“Ideally, we should make our defence impregnable such that no outsider can breach it and create havoc in the future. But that can only happen if we look inwards, rather than calling anyone with an alternate view a traitor.”

So what steps should be taken viz a viz Pakistan, she says, “It is high time we stop this ritualistic expression of anger after every attack, which any way soon fizzles out. The government needs to take harsh economic steps to force Islamabad to mend its ways. If push comes to shove, we might need to go for a decisive showdown. But yes, even that has costs; are we ready to bite that bullet?” ends she.