Talk to the hand: Why Kapil Sibal's SMS poetry doesn't work on Twitter
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. Bad poetry is a loud Honey Singh song when you have a massive hangover on a Monday morning.
Kapil Sibal, a former lawyer who has held several key ministries under the UPA rule, is also a rather accomplished poet. But a good poet should not always be expected to deliver, especially when he is taking pot-shots at political opponents through flimsy metaphors and unimaginative allegory.
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| Bad poetry is a loud Honey Singh song when you have a massive hangover on a Monday morning. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] |
It’s not even the first time he has done it. In 2015, taking a dig at the rising value of the US dollar, the veteran politician tweeted, “56 inch ki chhati, 58 ka rupaiya; kahan gayee woh chhati, kahan gaya rupaiya (the 56-inch chest, value of rupee at 58 against a dollar; where has that chest gone and where has the rupee gone?)”
This time, he took his poetry to a new low, with a combination of horribly transparent metaphors, Sibal tweeted about the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The “poet” wrote, “The Bicycle will speed away, as the Hand keeps it steady .No Lotus will bloom as the Elephant steps on it. 1917: a year of cheer and hope“. He quickly corrected the year to 2017 in the next tweet.
The Bicycle will speed away , as the Hand keeps it steady .No Lotus will bloom as the Elephant steps on it.1917 : a year of cheer and hope.
— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) January 23, 2017
The Bicycle, of course is Samajwadi Party. The Hand is Congress. The Lotus is BJP and the Elephant is BSP. Sibal tried to imply that with a Congress-SP alliance in place and the strong presence of BSP taking hold of the dalit vote bank, the BJP has no place to grow in Utaar Pradesh. This, as a member of the Congress party, was sentiment that Kapil Sibal could have expressed in simple words, but quite akin to an Instagram food-blogger, who can’t share a food photograph without an in-depth review of the restaurant, or even a ramshackle dhaba, Sibal could not help himself turning this political analysis into an unberable doggerel.
Of course, true to form, Twitter not only fixated upon just how bad this attempt at poetry was, but also the year 1917.
But yes, man, 1917. Vintage year, that was. https://t.co/669riyfZKv
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) January 23, 2017
Youre right ancient warrior from Jurassic park... that will happen in "1917"... Hahahhaa https://t.co/kizEsCs1jp
— MediaCrooks (@mediacrooks) January 23, 2017
A century later: The Bicycle will get punctured as the colonial hand puts brakes on it. Lotus will bloom as the Elephant gets stuck in mud. https://t.co/bsvTcVXxlD
— विनोद शर्मा ???????? (@vinod_sharma) January 23, 2017
1917: When the Bolsheviks under Lenin took over Russia. Freudian Slip? https://t.co/oCz9UNKvRu
— vadakkus (@vadakkus) January 23, 2017
1917 was a year of cheer & hope as great-leader of @INCIndia born that year. Will #IndiraGandhi play a role in #UPElection2017?????@KapilSibal pic.twitter.com/CKflz711VY
— #Intolerant भारतीय (@goyalsanjeev) January 23, 2017
.@KapilSibal Miss year by 100. Call a 2 lac crore scam as zero loss. Maybe you should just stick to procuring bail for Teesta
— The Masakadzas (@Nesenag) January 23, 2017
@KapilSibal sir you should write more poems. at least one a day.
— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) January 23, 2017
Hopefully, this should discourage the veteran politician from exposing us to more of his brand of partisan advocacy, aka, dreadful poetry.