For Liberals, it’s not enough to say a bad thing is bad. For some unfathomable reason, they feel a compulsion to equate an unfair decision with a completely different level of atrocity altogether to assert that they have been wronged. Anurag Kashyap today equated living in India with living in North Korea and how he wouldn’t even have to catch a flight to experience life under the dictatorial regime.
Sensible people obviously called out Anurag Kashyap on the horrendous comparison and some demanded that he produce some official proof of the surgery that was allegedly performed on his movie. Anurag Kashyap came up with a bizarre tweet justifying his North Korea comparison, “@reviewero why do you think the comparison to North Korea. There is nothing official about it yet it’s official.. Go figure”. It’s extremely bizarre and incredible that so much fuss was created about the cuts in the movie and yet there hasn’t been anything official yet according to the man himself. One wonders what to make of the entire ruckus that was created.
The incredible thing about the whole affair was Anurag Kashyap’s initial reaction to the flak he received after the tweet comparing India with North Korea. He was quick to assert Trolls were trying to divert attention from the main issue at hand. As is clear to everyone at this point, Troll is just about anyone who makes a counter to a liberal’s claims whether factual or abusive. Once again, instead of owning up to his mistake, Anurag Kashyap decided to label every person with a different opinion as a ‘Troll.’
Once again, a Liberal displayed his peculiar affinity for fear mongering. It was simply not enough to state that the apparent official/unofficial decision of the Censor Board was appalling and idiotic, a liberal has to conflate the regressive the decision with something infinitely more horrendous, a comparison to which makes the present injustice laughable and childish, as was the case here. It is the same kind of fear mongering that leads the RSS to be equated with ISIS and Narendra Modi with Hitler.
Anurag Kashyap’s hypervalent rant did not end there. Instead of apologising for the ridiculous North Korea comparison, Kashyap decided to further justify himself. “It’s my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that’s my North Korea”. The justification couldn’t be any more cringe-worthy. The Censor Board is Kashyap’s ‘My North Korea’ just as for Rahul Baba, poverty was a state of mind. For liberals, North Korea isn’t a dangerous country under the rule of an even more dangerous comical tyrant, it’s a state of mind that can be achieved every time a certain aspect of one’s Liberty is infringed upon.
As was expected, the entire Anti-Modi ecosystem latched on to the opportunity and decided to piggy-ride Anurag Kashyap to another victory against BJP.
But they have forgotten the same trick doesn’t work over and over again and even for people in the creative business like Kejriwal, extremely creative in the dharna business, coming up with a different strategy seems to be proving difficult. However, Anurag Kashyap has made it clear that he does not want the issue to be politicised. “I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It’s my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf”.
The strategy of the opposition seems to have been pretty obvious. The political opportunists were under the impression they could use Udta Punjab which depicts the drug problem in the state to score political points with the Assembly elections near on the horizon. Unsurprisingly, it is the same brigade of people who during the recent ruckus with Buddha in A Traffic Jam tried everything possible to undermine the movie.
Having said that, the Censor Board definitely needs a thorough reformation and the function and objective of the Board needs to be re-evaluated. The citizens of India are not children and the State is not the Holy Father to decide who gets to watch what portions of a movie. The time is perhaps ripe for a reformation as the citizens call for a reform and it’s time for the government to take a definitive decision.