Tanmay Bhat's video was silly and idiotic, but it was not criminal

I am a member of multiple WhatsApp groups and every day, there are jokes on Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sardars and any other individual or community considered okay to be mocked or made fun of by our society. What made me write this today are the (over) reactions of the people, political parties and the police on a Snapchat video posted by the AIB's Tanmay Bhat. Now, I have no sympathies for Tanmay. I don’t even find him funny. But when I saw all the hullabaloo surrounding his video, I decided to watch the video myself. It was silly and idiotic but not funny. And in my opinion, it wasn’t even too offensive! But silly and idiotic are two words that I’d like to associate with Snapchat in general. 

Those of us who use Snapchat know that the videos or images sent over the app are temporary in nature and disappear as soon as the recipient views them. And hence, people send whatever they feel like. Face swaps, masks, etc. are features of the app that allow the user to make “funny” videos or images and I am no exception to that. Well, unfortunately for Tanmay, his video went viral (not sure if he intended for it to be) and reactions started pouring in. Sensibilities were hurt as the two faces that he had swapped with his own and created the video were of Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar. Both of them have been recipients of the prestigious Bharat Ratna and are idols for millions across the country and throughout the world. People consider both of them godly in a way that any kind of insult to them is unacceptable and I get that. I have great respect for both of them. What they have done for their respective fields and the society is something that would always remain impossible for most of us to achieve. 

But, does that shield them from “humour”, or so to say, insults? This is not the first time that comedians have cracked jokes on them and some of the previous instances can be considered equally offensive by those who found the Snapchat video blasphemous. No one is sacred and everyone’s as human as the next person and everyone has their own flaws. Both Mangeshkar and Tendulkar have been associated with their own share of controversies. With the FOE as granted by the Indian constitution, I have the right to insult, offend and mock anyone as long as I am not inciting violence, issuing rape threats, outraging the modesty of a woman or hurting the religious “sentiments” of any particular community. Of course, I might have missed out on a few caveats. I have the right to say things that can be considered immoral by many but saying those things isn’t a criminal act. 

I have three problems here. Firstly, why is it okay to mock a few on a regular basis and give a sacrosanct status to a few? Why as a society, we are okay with all the Sardar jokes, sexist jokes about wives, homophobic jokes and jokes on other sections of the society? These are jokes that should actually offend us. And If you think that Sardars should be able take a joke, then you should be okay with jokes on Tendulkar and Mangeshkar even if they cross the 'line'.

The second problem I have here is with the police and the political parties who are making an issue out of it. I have seen the video and even though I am not a lawyer, I think I can safely say that nothing of what Tanmay has done and said in the video is criminal in nature. Rape threats are issued on a daily basis on social media and it has been observed that rarely is action taken against the culprits. The party that wants to file a case against Mr Bhat is infamous for inciting and causing violence against North Indian migrants in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. It is sad that people who should be actually facing the consequences of their criminal speech and subsequent actions are roaming around freely and using their power and popularity to waste public money on such pointless drama.

But, these political parties and the police have the tacit approval of the society and hence, such things are happening around us. As a society, we are still unable to differentiate between legality and morality. A large number of people think that whatever hurts their traditions, sentiments and morals is criminal in nature and deserves to be punished. We are okay with mob justice until it affects us. We are selectively hurt and our sensibilities are myopic. This causes problems as people are unable to differentiate between a stupid Snapchat video and a rape threat. Freedom of speech allows only one of those. 

Lastly, my problem is with us Indians having our priorities wrong. There are so many other things to express outrage about. If you don’t like AIB or Tanmay Bhat’s brand of humour, you can ignore it. I find it absolutely absurd that a Snapchat video is a subject of panel discussions on news channels. 

I am in no way endorsing Tanmay Bhat’s stupidity but I am all for his right to show off his stupidity whenever he wants.

Rishikesh Kulkarni  is a student of economics and Hindustani music and opines on his blog. He tweets @RishiKulk.