What BJP/RSS can learn from Nehru on April Fools' Day

Apparently, man is the only animal that can laugh or become a laughing stock, the only animal that is perceptive of humour and comedy. From the Greeks who initially associated the comic with fertility rites and the worship of Dionysus (however, later Plato banished comedy from his Republic) to the customs of setting aside a day for ritualised forms of mayhem and misrule by playing harmless pranks and hoaxes, to the present-day stand-up comedians performing in front of live audience and camera, humour and comedy have entertained, uplifted spirits and provoked hearty laughters while simultaneously exposing vices and foibles.

Festivals

Festivals like the Medieval Feast of Fools, the Hilaria in Rome, the "bura na mano" spirit of Holi in our country or the April Fool's Day of the Western world call upon disorder and chaos on a special day when forbidden is allowed, social order and hierarchies are challenged, norms are questioned but the tension, as a matter of principle, is always diffused with humour, comedy and laughter.

"The hard and sordid things of life are too hard and too sordid and too cruel for us to know and touch them year after year without some mitigating influence," opined Mark Twain. I am sure the "mitigating influence" he was talking about is derived from humour and comedy that allows pranksters, jesters, comedians, cartoonists and others to approach sensitive issues without sounding too serious or offensive.

Also read - Why Gandhi would not have objected to Kiku mimicking Ram Rahim

Humour and comedy have helped in carving out a dynamic space for contemplation of a new, even revolutionary understanding of a sensitive or controversial topic. By highlighting the contradictions, absurdities, incongruities and the misalignment between the real and the perceived, humour and comedy offer a stylistic redefinition of reality. In this context, I am reminded of the mimicry artist who tried to bring to light vices and follies of a self-styled godman, thereby, enabling people to re-examine their convictions about him and got arrested for it.

It might sound like an excerpt of a classic April Fool's Day hoax but this is stark reality. Incredibly, a professional comedian got arrested for onscreen mimicry of a godman-cum-actor-cum director-cum-writer-cum-composer-cum-automobile-modifier-cum originator of religious rock. Apparently, the sentiments of the followers of this Rockstar Baba, who were also the complainants, were too fragile to bear the onslaught of comedy.

Amazingly, Haryana government and police chose to put a laugh provider behind bars, instead of those innumerable rabble-rousers who wait to spew venom with their hate speeches at the drop of a hat. It's ironic that this happened despite the apologies of the actor and his assertions that he was only play-acting on a script given by the entertainment channel. Surprisingly, no case was filed against the channel for airing the show. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Laughter

Because of this incident issues like intolerance, freedom of speech and importance of the comic element in life once again became the talk of the town. Critics started wondering if laughter could still be called the best medicine, if keeping a comic attitude in wildly tragic situations was still permissible, if only that category of art which falls in line with the BJP-RSS agenda, would be allowed in the public domain, if conformity with majoritarian point of view will become a pre-requisite for every artist, writer, philosopher, intellectual, if the godmen instead of being keepers of faith would bend government's knee and dictate terms.

Since ages, film stars and politicians not saints or gurus have been the centre of attraction for comedians, cartoonists, caricature-artists. No comedian has mimicked Adi Shankaracharya, Mauni Baba, Devraha Baba and others.

But, when a spiritual/religious/social guru enters politics, when he supports a political party before elections, when he reaps financial benefits (getting his movie tax free despite it being denied the certificate by CBFC's revising committee initially, on the ground of promoting blind faith and superstition) after the political party he supported came to power, when he gets cleared of a criminal charge (charge that Armymen trained his private militia) by the same political party, he should be more than ready to be scrutinised, mimicked and even mocked.

Ridiculous

It is said that he who laughs, lasts but, I think, he who has a good laugh even at his own expense, lasts longer. Whereas the one, who takes himself too seriously to allow anyone to laugh at him, would, at the end of the day, appear more ridiculous.

Jawaharlal Nehru knew that only when a person learns to laugh at his own weaknesses exposed by another, can he move forward and rectify them. What could be better than a criticism that corrects by amusing?

These are hard times for the upsurge of creativity and it won't be an exaggeration to say that comedians, cartoonists and caricature artists are cautious in taking liberty against politicians. Holi and April Fool's Day give them a much awaited reprieve. But, the renowned cartoonist K Shankar Pillai, who held the mirror to the society and the political class through his insightful cartoons, was often very critical of Nehru.

Also read - Why you should take life easy and laughter seriously

Nehru, being the democrat he was, always praised Shankar's endeavours and said, "…without the least bit of malice or ill will he (Shankar) points out, with an artist's skill, the weaknesses and foibles of those who display themselves on the public stage. That is a service to all of us for which we should be grateful. For we are apt to grow pompous and self-centred, and it is good to have the veil of our conceit torn occasionally."

For pulling Nehru down a peg or two through his cartoons, Shankar only got affection and indulgence in return from the first prime minister of the country who encouraged him by famously saying, "Don't spare me Shankar".

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)