Anupam Kher's take on Sagarika Ghose's recent column.
On Wednesday, senior journalist Sagarika Ghose wrote a column on sycophancy in which she wrote about ‘chamchagiri’ in Indian politics. In the article, she wrote about Congress president Dev Kant Barooah had said during the Emergency that ‘India is Indira. Indira is India’ and how this culture still existed in Indian politics.
She also wrote about how current CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani saying he was ‘proud to be a Modi chamcha’ while actor Anupam Kher said that he ‘didn’t mind being called a chamcha of Modi’.
While the article was shared by a host of Twitterati, including Sagarika Ghose’s husband Rajdeep Sardesai, Anupam Kher didn’t take kindly to the piece as he sub-tweeted Rajdeep’s tweet saying: “It is better to be a self declared chamcha of the PM of d country, rather than a scheming & conniving journalist.:)”
Earlier, Anupam Kher had said he does not mind being called a 'chamcha' (stooge) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who works day and night for the country and wondered why children cannot chant slogans in admiration of a Prime Minister. "Why can't our children chant slogans in admiration of our Prime Minister in schools? As children, we used to chant slogans for Lal Bahadur Shastri in our schools. What is the problem?"
"Here is a man (Modi) who is constantly working day and night, who has enhanced our country's image throughout the world. But they (critics) are trying to find loopholes in each aspect of his work and run him down," he told Rajat Sharma in 'Aap Ki Adalat' on India TV. Modi is constantly talking about the country and no Prime Minister prior to him ever spoke on women's toilets from the ramparts of Red Fort, he said.
On critics describing him as a Modi 'chamcha' (sycophant), Kher said, "I am better off being called a chamcha of Narendra Modi, than a 'balti' of somebody else. They are using this word (chamcha) to put me on the defensive. I am a chamcha of thespian Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan too."
"If you use the word 'chamcha' for admiration, then it is perfectly alright with me, because after a long time we now have a Prime Minister who has brought emotions in me for my country, a man whose career graph is not a fluke, a man who did not enter politics as part of any legacy," Kher said.
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