The rap song whose lyrics say: "Satyagraha se kuch na mila, jhoot ka jhanda lehraya (When satyagraha failed to yield results, I was forced to hoist the flag of deceit)," has the animated video of Gandhi shaking his booty in the foreground of Parliament bursting into flames. The video began going viral within hours of loading on Saturday evening.
While the controversial war of words between Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and the RSS over the former blaming the latter for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi still makes headlines, a new music video Bobocanta which shows Gandhi not only making some mean street-style dance moves, but even doing headstands is bound to add further grist to the mill.
The rap song whose lyrics say: "Satyagraha se kuch na mila, jhoot ka jhanda lehraya (When satyagraha failed to yield results, I was forced to hoist the flag of deceit)," has the animated video of Gandhi shaking his booty in the foreground of Parliament bursting into flames. The video began going viral within hours of loading on Saturday evening.
The Congress was quick to connect its timing with Rahul Gandhi's withdrawal of his plea from the apex court on Thursday asking to quash criminal defamation charges against him. Readers will recall that he has said he would rather stand trial for linking the RSS with Mahatma's assassination. President of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee and senior party leader Sanjay Nirupam said he denounced the mentality which disrespected the Father of the Nation. "I stand by Rahul Gandhi's statement about the RSS' hand behind Gandhi's assassination. While our party's always supported freedom of expression, there should be line drawn when it comes to upholding the dignity of national icons." He added, "Merely invoking Gandhi when it suits them will not help. If the government is serious they should act against those responsible for this video."
The BJP's chief spokesperson for Maharashtra Madhav Bhandari threw the ball back into the Congress. "These are all shenanigans of the Congress and Left parties who want to keep creating tension over some subject or the other and reap political dividends." He took strong exception to the video being linked to either the RSS or the BJP. "If the Congress is serious about the outrage why are they not making an official complaint under the new strict cyber laws to get the person responsible booked for this video. Without that it seems like another convenient stick to keep beating the BJP with."
While admitting he hadn't watched the video, Satyaki Sawarkar, the grandson of Nathuram's brother Gopal too wondered, "Why should there be such a fuss over someone making a comment on society using Gandhi's name?
It is actually high time we re-wrote the history of this nation. It is not like the Nehrus and Gandhis alone fought for the country. What about others' contribution soaked in their blood?"
AIMIM legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel told dna he found nothing wrong with a bit of irreverence. "Since freedom of expression is invoked so often these days, why can't this artiste have the same benefit?" He underlined how mere irreverence should not be mixed with insult. "As long as the video is not making fun of the Mahatma and only using a flippant note to make a point about the state of the nation, its alright."
The man at the centre of the controversy Babu Haabi seemed to echo this sentiment. This award winning rapper, music producer and lyricist who Shahid Kapoor was styled after in Udta Punjab (for which Haabi has sung the popular tracks Chita Ve and Dada Dasse) said he was stunned with what he called "an unnecessary overreaction." According to him, "Unlike my anti-establishment rap which asks serious questions of the polity and society, other well-known rappers can't seem to think beyond women and booze. Yet people are questioning me and not them."
His artiste management company Milesahead Moviedom also felt too much was being made of the Gandhi's dancing and headstands. Director Hira Bulani asked, "Doesn't Shiva dance the taandav when furious about the chaos around? This is an equivalent. So what's the fuss about?"
While calling the video distasteful , the Mahatma's great grandson Tushar Gandhi said, "I found the video juvenile and stupid more than offensive. Its more a case of the artiste's ignorance finding expression in his work than anything. He needs to read up and educate himself," and added, "I want to however draw a really big line of difference between the makers of this video and someone like Ashutosh of the AAP who has consciously insulted the Mahatma with malafide intent."
Others like sociologist and cultural historian Mukul Joshi had a very different take on the whole issue. "History is testimony to how icons have gone through a cycle of being venerated, put on a pedestal, deification and then being pulled down worldwide. India too is no different." He cited the literal instances of the pulling down of monumental statues of Josef Stalin (Gori, Georgia; June 2010), Vladmir Lenin (Kiev and Donetsk, December 2013) and even Saddam Hussein (Baghdad, 2003) to emphasise his point. "Maybe for a country of 1.25 billion we are so starved of heroes and icons that we like to stick with what we have," he remarked and added, "We of all civilisations should know how to roll with time and understand that both symbols and symbolism can be dynamic and keep changing."
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