Trashing icons for eyeballs
Public figures seem to believe that they have a very short shelf life in terms of relevancy. Any form of publicity, good or bad seems to be good as long as it means prolonged relevancy in the public domain. With social media being able to make a status, statement or a tweet go viral, today’s news is fast becoming irrelevant today itself and hence a need to spawn more content to stay top of mind. A Subramanian Swamy tweeting an opinion on anything under the sun to a Markandeya Katju calling the father of nation a British agent, it’s a no holds bar fest in an attempt to capture eyeballs.
Mr Katju’s bandwagon
The former press council chairman and ex Supreme Court judge is known to blaze a trail of controversy with statements which are irrelevant and often offensive. Famously know for calling 90% Indian idiots or wanting to have Katrina Kaif as the president of India, Katju has sparked one controversy after other. His latest comment comes from his blog Satyam Bruyat, where he has claimed that Mahatma Gandhi was a British agent working to further British interests rather than Indian independence. Katju in the article espouse that Gandhiji proposed the peaceful satyagraha movement as against an anarchic revolutionary one to help the British government. He further points out that Gandhiji infused religion to further the British divide and rule policy, and that the economic principles of the mahatma were casteist. He points out that Gandhiji and Jinnah were part of a triumvirate that helped the british extend their rule.
A rational View
While most of these observations cannot be factually proven, rational analysis could refute some through logical progression. But what is more important is to inspect the relevance of such claims. 67 years after independence does this observation hold any relevance to Indians. The 2011 census showed more than 83 crores, i.e. 81% of the population were less than 45 years of age missed the tryst with destiny t least by 8 years. For this population would Gandhiji’s being a British agent change anything? To this ever increasing population on the contrary gandhiji iconises the breed of people who stood up so that he can take home his hard earner money and not pay it to the British. Without commenting on the astuteness of the comments it can only be hoped that public figures consider the relevancy of their comments and the ramifications in their ever search for relevancy in today’s social media driven world.
