Shekhar Suman had recently shared a tweet which read, “Dear all, Thank you for making my voice strong all this while. Allow me to plz take a backseat now.since the family is completely silent on this, it’s making me very uncomfortable to go on. I guess it’s their prerogative and we all should respect that.”
Dear all,Thank you for making my voice strong all this while.Allow me to plz take a backseat now.since the family is completely silent on this,it's making me very uncomfortable to go on.i guess its their prerogative and we all shld respect that.
— Shekhar Suman (@shekharsuman7) July 15, 2020
In an interview with DNA, the actor, who had started ‘Justice For Sushant Forum’, demanding CBI inquiry for Sushant post his untimely demise on June 14, 2020, clarified what did he mean by the tweet, and cleared that now he is back at the forefront, fighting for CBI inquiry for the actor. Suman also cleared why Sushant’s family were not a part of the press conference in Patna, which had reportedly upset the family.
Here Are Some Excerpts From The Interview:
I am still part of the movement. I’m just going behind because I’m waiting for the family to say something. I’m not having their approval and it feels uncomfortable and weird that who are you fighting for?
It’s like, they stand up and say we don’t want an inquiry and why are these guys going ahead and doing the inquiry when we don’t want it. These are the questions that started cropping up in my mind. It has been a month and they still haven’t said anything – not even a single line. That made me a little uncomfortable.
I then decided that I will be there, but wait and watch till they say something. Lots of his (Sushant’s) fans said, ‘sir it really doesn’t matter’. I said the same thing about 15 days back. We had said that we’re not fighting the case on behalf of the family.
He was a part of the film fraternity and public domain. We are fighting for him as an individual who lost his life under mysterious circumstances. The fans reminded me that it is okay if the family doesn’t come forward.
We respect their privacy and silence, but it would be nicer if they came forward and said something because it would make our case stronger. If they decide not to, which is their prerogative, and it is fine and we respect that, but we should still go ahead. That made a lot of sense to me, so I thought I would continue doing so. That was the whole thing, it got resolved in a minute.
At first, I thought am I going too much out of my way to push this movement all by myself? Because there wasn’t even a single voice coming from the film industry. Now it has got to the point where Subramanian Swamy Ji has written to the PM. Pappu Yadav has written to Amit Shah and said that he would look into the matter.
We raised the issue for a month and now it has come to a point where politicians and big politicians have now noticed it. That’s a bit of justice done already. Now I guess the full justice would be done once the CBI and judicial inquiry are ordered, and we then get a conclusion.
I am not backing out of this movement, just taking a back seat. Now, I am anyway back heading the movement. I felt awkward because the family wasn’t saying anything, but then realized that it really didn’t matter because I was doing my bit emotionally.
I listened to my heart and went all the way to Patna. I was the only one who flew down to Patna from here, especially to meet his father for five minutes. There also, I didn’t exchange any words with him. I thought silence was enough to communicate that I want to share his grief.
There was no pat on the back on their own even then. Not that I was looking for it, or even as much as a thank you for doing it. I didn’t go looking for it or was wanting it, but this is just general courtesy. I would say thank you for anybody who is going out of their way, to help me.
I just overlooked the fact, because I understand that they are in a state of grief, and I respect that. To expect anything from them would be wrong. I just wanted to give it some space, because we have fought for one month continuously. I realized I was alone, but it is a battle that I had taken upon myself.
It’s a war, a movement, and I did it out of listening to my own heart. So whether people come or don’t, I really don’t care. It doesn’t matter, as long as I or the fans are there behind supporting the cause.
I think the case justifiably needs closure. I could be wrong in asking for a judicial inquiry, but millions of fans can’t be wrong. Somebody has to pay heed to their demands. It is eventually happening. It seems like they are on the right path. That was it.
There Were Also Talks That The Family Was Upset Because They Were Not Part Of The Press Conference In Patna. Any Reason They Were Not Invited?
I don’t think one had to make a public tamasha out of it. First of all, the press conference was not my idea. I didn’t want to do a press conference. It was Tejaswi Yadav who said it would be nicer if we just announce it publicly that I am supporting the forum.
At the beginning of the press conference, it was very clearly told to the entire press that this is a non-political meeting. We are here to just show support to the forum. Hence there was no question of calling the family or anybody else. We would have called the family if they said anything like ‘thank you very much and we also are looking for a CBI inquiry’.
In the case of them remaining completely silent, it would have been wrong to invite them for something like this. What if they said that they weren’t interested and that I should go ahead and do what I want? That would be an embarrassing situation.
As I said, it is my own personal movement. I’m fighting on an emotional ground for various reasons –Â I thought suddenly a 34-year-old boy who is doing so well in life, has no business to go. Even if suicide, what were the circumstances that led him to commit that suicide? It’s terrible. If not suicide, there are far more reasons to investigate who are the people behind it, who made him do that? Either case, it’s a huge tragedy that a father lost his son.
I can imagine that there cannot be a greater tragedy for a father to accept the fact that his son is no more at such a young age. I have gone through that too. So there was a deep sense of empathy. They were two different circumstances. I lost my son because of a heart ailment, and he lost because of some reason – suicide, homicide or anything. My heart told me to go and share his grief which is why I went.
He is part of a film fraternity and I feel they say they are a family and close-knit, but none of his friends, co-stars or the big stars who could make a huge difference, came forward to say anything. That probably could have speeded up the whole inquiry.
I realized that I shouldn’t be getting into who wants to say or not. I just thought that I want to say it and so I will, which is why I went ahead and said it. He was also from Bihar like me, so there was an emotional connect.
He wasn’t my family, friend, or younger brother, but it was just an emotional connect of a human being. It was on humanitarian grounds. A man who was lively, throbbing, pulsating, who has achieved everything on his own, suddenly loses his life. I thought it needed a closure, which is why the whole movement.
