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‘So out of touch with reality’- Twitter blasts Kapil Dev for dismissing Depression and Pressure as ‘American words’

A public figure making light of mental health issues has been deemed problematic by social media users.

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Former India captain Kapil Dev has found himself in hot waters after claiming that “pressure” and “depression” are “American words” and that he doesn’t understand those.

Speaking at an event organised by Aakash Institute, the World Cup-winning captain came up with a casual take on mental health issues. The video which was posted on October 8th has been going viral on social media and Dev is facing a lot of criticism for it. The 63-year-old suggested players not play in the Indian T20 League if the pressure is too much to handle for them. In his suggestive remarks, however, it seems the former cricketer went too far and called mental health issues, a fad.

“People say there is a lot of pressure when they are playing Indian T20 Legaue. I can only tell them one thing, ‘don’t play’. These ‘American words’ have come, be it pressure or depression. I don’t understand this. If you are passionate, there shouldn’t be any pressure,” said Dev at the event.

Archaic views on corporal punishment

Dev did not just stop there; he went on to speak against corporal punishment as well. He compared the education system in his time to that of today’s claiming it was much tougher in those times and that children these days have it easy.

“I went to a school, where the students of 10th and 11th grades were telling me that they were under a lot of pressure. So I asked them, ‘oh, so you are also under pressure?’ You study in AC schools, your parents pay your fees, your teachers can’t lay their hands on you, and still you are under pressure?” he says at the event following rapturous applause from the audience.

“To understand pressure, you have to look back to our time. Our teachers used to slap us first and then ask questions. Today, can these students even be touched by their teachers? So how are they feeling the pressure,” asks Dev in what could be termed as a legitimisation of corporal punishment.

Soon social media started buzzing seeing an important personality coming up with archaic views on grave societal issues.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Kapil Dev’s casual take on mental health issues: 

 

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