On National Press Day, the irony hits: it was difficult for journalists to report from Tripura, to detail the ground realities to the communal rioting, yet there were speeches after speeches from the political who’s who!
At first it was the hounding of stand-up comedian, Munawar Faruqui (mind you, his hounding continues, as his shows are getting cancelled in city after city) and now news just coming in is this – a case has been filed against the absolutely brilliant comedian, Vir Das. Why? Because of his latest show where he spoke out, on the huge range of disparities and double standards and the hitting ironies in the “two Indias”!
What’s going on! We are surviving in an atmosphere that’s choking us to near death! First, the corona scare seems ever looming on our heads. Then comes in the scare of the smog which seems lethal enough to destroy whatever remains of our vital organs. And in the background the communal anarchy spreading out from Tripura to Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh…right up to the hills of Uttarakhand. All this getting to be so very horrifying that one doesn’t know how many amongst us will be alive enough to drive along the over flaunted ‘political’ Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.
In this tight throttling atmosphere it is getting increasingly difficult to even voice an opinion. It was shocking to see Salman Khurshid’s house in the Nainital district getting vandalized because of his views and comments on the Right-Wing Hindutva forces, expressed in his latest book.
And as I write this column on National Press Day, the irony hits: it was difficult for journalists to report from Tripura, to detail the ground realities to the communal rioting, yet on the National Press Day there were speeches after speeches from the political who’s who! Tell me, for how long this sheer farce will go on! Of course, exposed stand the who’s who, but because of the new trend of cases slapped even on members of fact finding teams, and the hapless victims projected as culprits, we sit back, all too quiet!
Can all the perfumes be potent enough to save us!
Can the Samajwadis be so utterly naïve to label their recently launched perfume, Samajwadi Perfume, potent enough to wipe away the communal hatred spreading around by the combined forces of the Right-Wing!
No doubt, a refreshing idea to launch a perfume in these dark times, but can the might of all the perfumes of Kannauj contain the cries of communal hatred and the aftermath unleashed from the various quarters of the State?
