Why is Barkha Dutt having a meltdown over Shahrukh’s Diljale?

Dilwale…Diljale whatever… As an inherently positive person, I try to understand the qualities even in people I despise. For instance, I don’t like Rajdeep Sardesai, but when his book came out, he went out there dragging his behind all over the scene, ambushing politicians, film stars, everyone….getting them to take a picture with his book. I appreciate Rajdeep’s hustle. It tells you how these Mameluks got to be the top Mameluks out there.

I give Barkha Dutt credit for spotting as far back as 2003 or 2004, the ability of social media to challenge the Mameluk narrative. Barkha Dutt did an episode of “We the people” suggesting government censorship of blogs back when social media wasn’t even the faintest blip on the Indian political radar. In fact, while I was watching that episode all those years ago, my first question was: so what exactly is a blog 😉 ?

And I will always respect Barkha Dutt for that. She was able to spot her enemy coming from a mile away. Who would have thought there was such power in social media? But Barkha saw the potential …she saw the “clear and present danger” posed by democratized public platforms without Dynasty appointed gatekeepers. And she started talking about censorship of social media at a time most people had barely heard of it.

So, now that Barkha Dutt is having a meltdown over social media driven boycotts and bad online reviews of her book, it’s a great way to gauge and validate the influence of social media. If they are desperately gunning for us, it means they are hurting badly. A Shahrukh Khan movie  collapsing seems to have sent a tremendous, bone chilling message to the elite.

First of all, don’t let them tell you for one second that Dilwale is screwing up purely because the movie sucks. Shahrukh admitted it himself that his comments had hurt the collections. AND, more importantly, if Dilwale had gone on to become a chartbuster, these same Mameluks would have called it a massive snub to social media by the ordinary public. Imagine the flood of articles telling Bhakts how the common people are saying no to their “intolerance”.  So, now that Dilwale is collapsing, it is important for social media to step up and claim full  credit. The Bhakts brought down Shahrukh Khan’s movie and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

See how they whine:

So the Oh-so-tolerant trolls want to boycott a film for this? Here's what @Iamsrk said & didnt in my intvw. Watch: https://t.co/A1lkdCfKhk

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

So? Now we are required to go buy tickets to see people we don’t like or we’ll all be intolerant? ROFL! But here is where Sadanand Dhume’s epic response comes in:

@BDUTT Hypothetical question: would it be intolerant for a group of people to boycott Baba Ramdev's noodles on account of his views on gays?

— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) December 23, 2015

Ouch! Yes, Barkha, what do you want? Just like speech in our country, I suppose you want “reasonable restrictions” on the right to boycott with a monopoly for liberals on the definition of reasonable? Here, the meltdown of Barkha begins:

@dhume oh and Dhume while you are at it Dont forget to log on to @amazonIn and downrate my book like all good "patriots". Cool?

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

See, now Rajdeep is scoring over Barkha. Rajdeep was in even more difficult times when he released his book: Modi had just been elected, Rajdeep was on the street. But he didn’t go FULL RETARD, he kept begging important people to “release his book”, showing up at everyone’s bathroom and living room. Here, Barkha is just throwing her toys out of the pram: “You hate my book…go hate it…I know you all hate it…F**k you all”. Think I am exaggerating? See what happened next:

@dhume am too dumb for a conceptual argument. Forgive me for not being able to match your intellectual standards

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

Yeah…you all think I am dumb…F**k you all! Hell, I am dumb. Here, I will break all my toys. Are you happy now?

Here’s more fun:

@IndiaSpeaksPR yeah and you are our GURU. so wise, so objective, so neutral, so mature @dhume

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

@IndiaSpeaksPR yes I guess, mature was the wrong word ! cheers! @dhume

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

@IndiaSpeaksPR I know. Pathetic me. Am so lucky to still be able to talk to you @dhume

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 23, 2015

What? You guys hate my book? Look I will hate myself more than you can. I suck. Everyone is good and I am pathetic. You happy now? I hate you..I hate you…I hate you…

Exactly. Barkha Dutt wants to be the arbiter of what we can boycott and what we can’t. So, go buy tickets to see Dilwale or Barkha will call for the passage of a Protection of Tolerance Act (POTA). I understand what Barkha is going through. I used to act the same way when my parents would put the comics on the top shelf and refused to let me touch them…