Recently I wrote a column criticizing India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli, which got flooded with reactions. One fan called me an agent of China, another suggested I had Taliban connections and the third – the most ruthless cut – called me “uncle”. Never had Indian love addressed strangers and relatives alike, so cunning and so lacking in understanding.
In Scandinavian mythology, a troll is a dwarf living in a cave, and this is a pretty accurate description of anonymous critics even on social media.
Anyway, all those exciting messages got me thinking. Who are the holy cows of Indian public life, men and women whom you cannot criticize without making thousands of their supporters jump at you? A holy cow—before my Scandinavian friends reactivated—is “one who is often unreasonably immune from criticism or opposition.”
Two obvious candidates, and at the top of the list are our beloved Prime Minister and our almost beloved Home Minister. Whatever the thickness of their skins, the skins of their devoted followers are very thin indeed.
In fact, you don’t even need to outright criticize these beloved leaders. You can write in grand support – but use a word of more than two syllables and the floodgates open. This probably explains why most of our political reporting is in plain English; Even simple.
what about the rest? Our four national obsessions in no-go areas involve prominent figures: politics, Bollywood, religion and cricket. Sometimes, when politicians indulge in cricket, they are secured like a double glazed window. For example, Jay Shah is the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as well as the son of the Home Minister. Therefore it cannot be criticized in any year which has July.
There are national sacred cows and then there are regional sacred cows. There is Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Yogi Adityanath in UP. You can write about them as long as it is admirable.
Businessman Gautam Adani is a no-go area as the publications who have been prosecuted for his hard work have found out. A few years back, Narayana Murthy was seen as above condemnation, but he seems to have returned to the usual pool of critics.
Among Bollywood stars, Amitabh Bachchan is like a holy cow, but he does not have one hundred percent protection, and is liable to attract both media criticism and the occasional professional troll.
Then there is a group of so called ‘gods’, who have inherent immunity. These include (in no particular order) Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev and many more. Many have power without responsibility and have a fan club that is envious of movie stars. These political-businessmen certainly have the best interests of humanity at heart.
Which brings us to the old joke. “You know that in our country we can criticize our prime minister,” says one. “It is the same in our country,” replied his friend, “we can also criticize your prime minister.”
(Suresh Menon is the Contributing Editor, The Hindu).