Media frenzy over crude jokes as real tragedies vanish

Truth is often the biggest casualty in a melee of misplaced priorities and feverish faith-based identity. Shadowing it closely is obfuscation.

Within a fortnight there have been two deadly stampedes in India leading to loss of lives. Both incidents involved overcrowding and exposed the fault lines in people management around the Maha Kumbh.

18 people died at the New Delhi Railway Station after a sea of humanity that was headed to the spiritual pilgrimage converged at the rail platforms eagerly trying to board a train that was delayed.

It is also believed that tickets sold were in far higher numbers than the capacity of the general compartments of the special train. Despite the horrifying reports, the news cycle barely stuck to the story for even the mandatory, 24 hours.

A day after the calamity, the focus was on boosting security measures as though the horse had not bolted, irrevocably. Like the ever-changing train announcements on an electronic board, the death toll kept changing, till all mention of it disappeared.

At the end of January, 50 people (the unofficial figures are higher) were killed as they rushed to immerse themselves in the river Ganges on what was considered an auspicious time. Two weeks and at least 70 deaths later, unsurprisingly, there has been no accountability.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, known more for his social media presence than his track record is in his second tenure. There have been no less than 25 serious rail mishaps under him including one of the worst rail accidents in India’s history in 2023. 300 people died in the triple-train collision.

Crass, crude, and tactless

One man, however, has lost his job in a downfall swifter than a raft down the rapids. Ranveer Allahbadia cracked what he thought was a joke on a YouTube show called ‘India’s Got Latent’. It was crass, crude and aeons away from any concept of comedy.

The episode showed two things; firstly, that Indians have barely scratched the surface of humour. Tricks of the trade that make political satires like ‘Yes Minister’ an enduring classic or the strait-laced comedy seen across the border that brings a genuine laugh are glaringly missing.

Just like serious cinema isn’t a string of coarse abuses interlaced with the flick of a cigarette; humour isn’t about hitting the lowest denominator like a lusty teenager.

Secondly, social media has unleashed a generational demographic that doesn’t need to work for fame. ‘Content creators’ and ‘influencers’ are unchartered territory through whom misinformation or one-sided information flows like pilgrims to the Ganges. Make catchy reels and noises, and fame follows a million followers. One such name is a newly minted best-selling author who admits to having never read a book.

The joke though is us. Media, politicians and state machinery are now on the erstwhile poster boy’s tail like a pack of jackals baying for blood. No one knows where the scent is coming from although it is reminiscent of the recent past when a section of media, salivating, wrongly chased SRK’s son Aryan or the girlfriend of actor Sushant Singh Rajput who died by suicide as if they had caught drug kingpins.

Bafflingly, till just a few days earlier Ranveer was one of them. He could do no wrong. From the country’s ministers to top Bollywood celebrities the guests who lined up on his show were bigger than the rest. Soon he shared lines on yoga and spirituality with Modi as the PM awarded him the Disruptor of the Year award.

Persona non-grata

Pride goes before a fall or a scapegoat for distraction, the young man today finds himself not only persona non-grata but has also got interim protection from arrest.

The Supreme Court struggling with genuine grievances that have not been solved for decades quickly heard his plea for anticipatory bail saying, ‘entire society will feel ashamed.’ Where were the same society or sentiments when 11 rapists convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano were released?

India Hate Lab Report 2024 says that hate speech surged by almost 75% from the previous year. As per the study, ‘far from being isolated or spontaneous outbursts of communal hatred', these speeches formed part of a coordinated strategy, largely orchestrated by the ruling party and its affiliate groups.

Almost disdainful in its prime-time coverage of the two stampedes, most news channels (barring notable exceptions) have found their elixir. Ethics after all is not for the weak. Agitated prime-time debates have still not questioned the real number of deaths at the stampedes and why it took so long for victims to be transported to a hospital.

Instead, there is breathless coverage of FIRs against Ranveer from Maharashtra and Assam, both states ruled by the BJP. Police who should focus on law and order are chasing a man for a vulgar comment and even the silence of The National Commission for Women over several rape cases was broken as it summoned the young man.

Yes, the bottomless pit of new media needs an eye on misinformation or is this an excuse for government regulation? After all, when did a crass remark become a seditious jail matter?

Is this humour, asks a guest on a television debate? A million mutinies later, he still wasn’t speaking about train accidents, hate speeches or why the frothing Yamuna River with its toxic waters is seeing a cleanup after ten years as soon as Delhi changed hands politically to the BJP.

Why did a poster boy of the government lose everything overnight? The answer should give many sleepless nights.