Are You Serious Times Now? Let Rahul Gandhi Watch Star Wars!

Political trends are commonplace in Twitterverse, however, on the night of December 18, 2017, Twitter was abuzz with a trend that left us in the state of ambivalence.

Apparently, Rahul Gandhi had committed the most atrocious crime ever in the history of Indian politics. “He couldn’t have been serious if he did this”; “How did he”; How dare he watch “Star Wars”.

Seriously, the hashtag #AreYouSeriousRahul was trending because Rahul Gandhi went to watch the film “Star Wars” on the very day that the election counting was going on.

What is amazing is that they set a few reporters to the theatre where Rahul Gandhi was watching the film with four of his friends. The reporter spared us the details of the ‘friends’ he went with to watch the film. Maybe, they may do an ‘exclusive story’ on these mysterious friends whose name is withheld.

God is in the details for Times Now. The Managing Editor-Politics of Times Now was seen fumbling when she was reading the teleprompter. She did alter her tone for some extra effect saying “he was also buying popcorn.” The reporter went with a hidden camera to check if Rahul Gandhi comes to the theatre often. The unassuming staff answered all questions and even told the nosey-jasoos (detective) reporter, that Kejriwal also frequents this place.

In her teleprompted speech Navika used some interesting adverbs to add the extra effect to the biggest crime in the century, by saying that the Congress party president “Rahul Gandhi allegedly walked into the cinema hall, seemingly relaxed.” The problem she had was that he did so even when the counting was on, though the results were already known by evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQM8lEyA6kE

I wonder, why is it a crime for anyone to be relaxed enough to seek pleasure, even at the time when work pressure hits the ceiling? Isn’t it a sign of victory, even in defeat? Would they have liked if the Congress president was posing for the cameras, biting his nails, glued to the television screen, just as the nation watches when it is the last ball by the opposition and one run to win the cricket match?

I seriously didn’t understand Navika Kumar’s problem. I watched a film before my mathematics paper in my tenth standard board exams. I ended up scoring well in that paper despite that. People have different ways to deal with stress. And people who don’t get stressed and are calm and composed on their most trying times are to be celebrated for their calmness, and for the fact that they don’t get agitated that easily.

This Los Angeles Times piece by Joyce E A Russell, has a self-explanatory title that reads “Staying Calm Under Pressure Tells Us A Lot About A Leader”. “The person who doesn’t lose their cool is the one who is remembered in a positive way, as the leader people want to follow or the applicant they want to hire,” concludes Joyce who is the Dean of a management school in Maryland USA and has over 25 years of experience in coaching executives on leadership.

So, what was seen as a lack of seriousness could well be Rahul Gandhi’s secret mantra to be grounded in happiness and sorrow. And as for Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, he at least got the sinking boat of the Congress party to the shore. Throughout he was positive in his demeanour and also urged people to have a sense of humour.

For all we know, Rahul could be deriving his sense of humour from what is almost the second religion in our country – films. Remember his jibe “Gabbar Singh Tax” for Modi government’s version of GST?

Or even the previous star wars jibe?

What Navika and Times Now term as irresponsible and not-so-serious could be homework for the next smart millennial tweet at the BJP. You can’t connect with the junta (public), if you don’t do things that junta does. And while she is sending troops to spy on theatres that Rahul Gandhi is going to, why doesn’t she engage a battalion of forces armed with cameras to chase Narendra Modi and question him about his silence on the cold-blooded murder of a Muslim man in a state ruled by his party?

I wish to ask, why isn’t there any news Navika, on the fact that a BJP MLA called Virat Kohli anti-national because of the locale of his marriage ceremony? This was insulting to Anushka as well, because it seemed to suggest that only Virat, the man, took the decision.

In the end, I would like to leave you all with this clip that sums it all up about the funny story that Times Now carried just to further its bias. Listen to the brother Tehseen in the Brown Nehru Jacket.

The funny thing is that this piece that was presented as one presents “breaking news”, was 24 hours old. I think soon, with some more “sensational” stuff like this one, we will not be able to tell the difference between news television and reality TV. The Ram-Ravan fight by the Ram Lakhan duo of the two Poonawala Bros is beyond hilarious.

On that note, as Mister Gandhi says – “may the farce be with you.”