How all this talk of pakodas is leaving everyone on Twitter brain-fried
The political discourse in India, it would seem, shifts from one snack/drink to the other. From chai in 2014 to pakodas in 2018, the country has not moved far. How can it, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview, makes excuses for the lakhs and crores of promised-yet-undelivered employment opportunities; when the president of the ruling party, Amit Shah defends it with a decidedly inane statement like “selling pakodas was better than being unemployed” in Parliament?
It’s almost as if real issues have stopped being important. And now a much cherished food item stands maligned because of sound bites.
You think Pakoda Wallas and Chai Wallas are getting together and going "Bro...that escalated" ?
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) February 5, 2018
This pakoda seems to have caused many stomach upsets. :-)) #Pakodanomics
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) February 6, 2018
I'm launching a #Pakoda startup. Who's funding ?
— Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) February 5, 2018
If Pakoda comes, can sauce be far behind? pic.twitter.com/hVXgf0FZkw
— Punster® (@Pun_Starr) February 4, 2018
"So says the PM... "P - PakodaM - Man#पकौड़ा_मैन BJP has panicked because heartland India has seen through the Pakodanomics... pic.twitter.com/yeFbAf0DCk
— Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) February 4, 2018
Has Pakoda Man officially stopped selling Acche Din?
— Suvojit (@suvojitc) February 3, 2018
World Employment Forum pic.twitter.com/8gJM5lrjAX
— M (@wazzamata) January 23, 2018
Of course, the criticism and jokes on pakodas were not limited just to Modi or Shah — they extended to the inherent hypocrisy of such a food item being publicised. After all, India, which has a massively problematic cholesterol problem — every fifth Indian suffers from a heart attack — just cannot stand and endorse a food item that would only add to such depressing statistics.
Hypocrisy. How can you simultaneously promote public health program and pakoda?
— DoUHaveTheFever? (@sidin) February 5, 2018
The majority of the digs surrounding Pakodagate are centred around the PM’s chaiwala reputation. But of course there has been, as always, an escalation. The mockery of pakodas and BJP has escaped the internet and entered the real world with the Samajwadi Party opening a “PM pakoda training centre” for unemployed youth in Bareilly.
The party’s state spokesperson Ata-ur-Rehman, in an attempt at satire-meets-real-life, told Times of India, "The programme includes teaching unemployed youth how to make four kinds of pakodas - Modi Pakoda for BTech and MTech degree holders, Shah Pakoda for PhD and MBA, Jaitley Pakoda for MCom and Yogi Pakoda for graduate and other unemployed youth. As Samajwadi Party workers do not know the art of making pakodas, we have engaged three expert cooks to train the youth."
Eating a Pakoda today was my top priority, by TOP I mean: Tomato Onion Potato Pakoda. These three main ingredients make a normal Pakoda into a top Pakoda. Top pakoda does very well with garam garam chai mmmh ????
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) February 4, 2018
Chai in 2014 and Pakoda in 2018... #AccheDin will be delivered in 2019 with Chai Pakoda.
— Sadhavi Khosla (@sadhavi) February 1, 2018
In the three and half years of Modi govt in the center, their biggest achievement has been the transformation of the CM - 'Chai Man' to PM - 'Pakoda man'.#पकौड़ा_मैन
— Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) February 4, 2018
The discourse of pakodas has also found itself deeply entrenched in our social fabric, starting from the upcoming elections in Karnataka, to corruption allegations against the son of the BJP president.
So, if BJP wins in Karanataka. All #Kannadigas will start selling pakoda#karnatakadontTrustModi pic.twitter.com/iCEdao8djm
— Nag Kommineni (@kommineniNag) February 5, 2018
Did Jay Shah also sell pakodas? pic.twitter.com/Vsof9Ewj8p
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 6, 2018
The most important question at the end of it all remains — as articulated by lawyer and activist Sanjay Hegde — that if everybody is selling pakodas, and there is no employment or jobs, who will buy the pakodas?
Who, indeed?