After training their guns on Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali and smearing ink on ORF chairman Sudheendhra Kulkarni, who was to organize the book launch of a book by Pakistani politician Khurshid Kasuri, the Shiv Sena has now expanded their anti-Pakistan tirade into the online space too.
In its mouthpiece, Saamna, the party issued a stern warning to humorists and satirists, asking them to refrain from mocking legendary Pakistani commentator Ramiz Raja and stick to his Indian counterpart Ravi Shastri instead.
“Look, we have nothing against Ramiz Raja. In fact, I can’t remember the number of occasions on which we have mocked Ramiz in the past and laughed our stomachs out each time he uttered something ridiculous. But right now, the situation is such that it doesn’t suit us to make a hero out of Ramiz by going on mocking him. So until normalcy is restored, we ask all the humorists to channelize their satiric urge towards mocking our own Maharashtrian lion, Ravi Shastri. Otherwise, of course, we’ll be forced to deal with those guys patriotically, in Shiv Sena mode,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told The UnReal Times.
“We don’t care if you mock even us. But don’t give those Pakis a humor space that they don’t deserve. If you mock us, we’ll let you get away lightly by using Section 66A. Damn! That’s not there, now. Okay, we’ll just force feed you some bad rotis. But if you mock those Pakis, get ready to have your face blackened too,” Raut added.
The Sena’s new threat has enraged the Indian media, who promptly began to tweet a deluge of Ramiz Raja jokes online. “Apologies to Pakistan, I really love you all. But I won’t stand fascists telling me what jokes to make and what not to. So here goes – Can’t decide what’s worse. Ramiz Raja’s hairstyle or his commentary,” tweeted Barkha Dutt.
It didn’t take long for India Today anchor Rajdeep Sardesai to take the cue and tweet, “Suprabhatam! Heard that Ramiz Raja is called Rambo. My heart goes out to Sylvester Stallone! Have a good day, folks and don’t let anyone dictate what jokes you should make!” tweeted the former CNN-IBN editor-in-chief.
However, Indian humor and satire website, The UnReal Times, which went after those who mocked Ramiz Raja, was lauded by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who summoned the editors of the website to honor them at his residence.
Please note this is a humour article — work of pure fiction
(Ashwin Kumar is a humorist with www.theunrealtimes.com
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