Shekar Gupta trolls Anumpan Kher Author : Ashok Chowgule It all started with the following tweet by Shekar Gupta: Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta 8 April 2016. This was pinned by Shekharji on his twitter account at least till 12:30pm (India time), 12 Apr 16, when I started to write this note. A pinned tweet means that the person thinks that it is the most important tweet till the time when he pins another tweet. That is, for at least four days Shekharji thought it was his most important tweet. The most obvious response to this tweet is why does Shekharji not organise the padyatra himself, with or without chanting the Bharat Mata Ki Jai (BMKJ) mantra as the yatra proceeds to Bastar. And many people responded saying so. One does wonder why it did not occur to Shekarji himself that this would be an obvious response. However, the tweet was meant to provoke Anupam Kher, and I am glad that he did. Anupamji tweeted: Anupam Kher @Anupamkher To which Shekharji responded as follows: Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta I do not think Anupamji meant to provoke Shekharji. But I am glad that the latter got provoked. Having got himself into a hole, instead of trying to extract himself out of it, he decided to dig further into the hole! Anumpamji could respond in the most obvious way possible, which is: Anupam Kher @Anupamkher Shekharji had another opportunity to extract himself out of the hole. Instead he decided to dig even further down, when he tweeted: Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta At this point, Anumpaji wisely let others to respond, since there would be only obvious responses. One of them was: Shwetzonly @shwetzonly Another was: Mamta Niigam @mamtan14 And so on. The original tweet itself received brilliant comments from quite a few. Here are some of them, not ordered in any particular manner. Baijayant Jay Panda @PandaJay April 10 Javed Iqbal Shah @JAVED0909 K-jsp @jspandey Real Zaid Hamid @RealZaidHamid Rohit Pradhan @Retributions Mamta Niigam @mamtan14 Abhijit Majumder had tweeted: Abhijit Majumder @abhijitmajumder April 10 To which Udayan Bose responded: Udayan Bose @boseudayan Udayan Bose had also tweeted: Udayan Bose @boseudayan One Vikram could not help himself, I guess, but to tweet: Vikram @virvikram Overall, perhaps the feelings of many who thought poorly of Shekharji’s manner of conducting himself, can be summarised by this tweet of Udayan Bose: Udayan Bose @boseudayan I think this episode tells a lot about the group of people who think they are occupying the intellectual space in India. They have had a free run so far in the way they have been conducting themselves. And, in the process, they have been thinking that they were indeed making profound statements. The challenges to them have become apparent only with the advent of the social media, as Abhay Majumder observed above. These ‘intellectuals’ have not yet been able to appreciate that the people have seen through them, and hence are not able to make cogent points in support of their position. Instead, as mentioned above, they are digging themselves even more deep into their holes. Shekharji is not the only one engaging in this activity. If these ‘intellectuals’ do not think me of being impertinent, I would like to make a suggestion. They should spend time in reading the comments that are made on their tweets, particularly those from the Internet Hindus. There are some tweets that, though making a valid point, do use foul language, or put the point forward in a very obnoxious way. And there will be some idiotic or irrelevant point But they are few. Most make valid points, with some using strong (but not foul or obnoxious) language. The ‘intellectuals’ should see beyond the language or idiom, and try and understand the point being made. And take them into consideration, and not dismiss them. They need to have a dialogue with their readers and the people at large. If the contention of these readers is not valid, there is a need to take some time and explain. Sometimes, the reader may be making a generic point, which could be in the minds of many others who have not expressed themselves on the social media, or not able to articulate themselves. The explanation will reach all of them, and a misconception would be corrected. The ‘intellectuals’ need to make themselves relevant to the needs of the society. After all, it is the society that provides them with a livelihood. (Ashok Chowgule is the Working President (External) of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The text of the tweets have been edited for easy reading.)
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