Sunday, December 11, 2011

Kapil Da Jawaab Nahi...

This appears in the Sunday Times today...

Kapil Da Jawaab Nahi…

Truly, Kapil da jawaab nahi!Someone forgot to tell our Ministerji that all things ‘Dirty’ are totally ‘in’ these days. Ask Vidya ( Ooh-la-la Balan), who has successfully challenged a hypocritical, prudish nation’s antiquated norms on what constitutes ‘dirty’. Vidya ne dhula diya! Does Kapil Sibal not get it? Look at his lousy timing.It is too late to lecture us on what he thinks is morally unacceptable to modern India. The answer is : anything and everything goes these days.When a Minister takes it upon himself to chastise social networking sites that have been going about their business with spectacular success for so long, he is asking for trouble. In a country of a 100 million internet users (the number is likely to jump to 300 million in the next 2 years according to experts), any form of government interference will be energetically and strenuously rejected. What took Kapil Sibal so long to wake up and smell the whiskey? Why was nobody concerned about ‘incendiary’ material or the abuse and misuse of social networking sites before September 5th, which was when Sibal spoke to international internet giants and offered them a crash course in decoding desi sensibilities? There is something pretty disingenuous about the Minister’s concerns. Not only is his timing for the dramatic announcement pretty suspect, it is clearly an over-enthusiastic attempt to please the Head Mistress.Kapil should stop acting like a school boy, a teacher’s pet, a class monitor who’s out to earn extra brownie points.
Nothing but nothing is a ‘secret’ these days. It’s all out there. From a person’s sex life to bank account details. And it is the people who decide what is or is not acceptable. That is how it works. What is the government scared of? Who does Kapil Sibal want to shield? Is it even possible to do that anymore? Social networking sites are independent states unto themselves. People refer to Facebook as one of the world’s most powerful ‘countries’. It has been successfully proven (Arab Spring) that a 140- character tweet can trigger a revolution. Is this what Kapil fears? When an individual or government has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, any form of public scrutiny should be welcomed. Politicians constantly talk about transparency and accountability in public life. But it is the same people who panic at the first hint of an expose. Now that pretty much every memo, note, sms,bbm,file and phone conversation is in the public domain and within easy access of an interested party, it is a bit silly to try and ‘protect’ a VVIP, that too, by imposing restrictions on others. Kapil is allergic to the word ‘censorship’. Perhaps he has a better substitute? Unfortunately for the Minister, he completely misread the mood of the people when he broke the bad news about playing Net Nanny. There was widespread outrage across the board and some of it was from unexpected quarters. 94% of people polled on the subject are saying, “Hands off!” Kapil , poor chap, had talked himself into a corner for issuing what is being referred to as the ‘Facebook Fatwa’. He is still there, trying to crawl out.
There have always been regulatory mechanisms in place on the said sites, along with enough checks and balances to filter threats and other material that could cause widespread panic.But these are as good or as bad as people want them to be. Yes, there is abuse on some sites, and there are enough cowards hiding behind a veil of anonymity, who get away with it.I have been at the receiving end of ugly comments and hate mail myself.Despite that,I would still defend the rights of people to use these platforms freely. For every misguided bigot, there are millions of others for whom the freedom of expression is an all-inclusive, priceless gift that is worth fighting for, regardless of the consequences. This freedom is absolute and non-negotiable. It cannot be defined or qualified by politicians, no matter how noble their stated intentions are. In as young a country as ours, it is short sighted to underestimate or talk down to people who are sharp, smart and very savvy.Whether it is Facebook, Twitter or a micro blogging site, just leave it to users to determine what’s kosher and what isn’t. Kapil Sibal needs to listen more, and talk less. Listen to the voices of tomorrow. The same ones applauding the suggestive gyrations of a talented heroine portraying the life of a semi-porn star in ‘Dirty Picture’, this season’s big hit .Nobody has demanded a ban on the film, nor pelted stones on the screen. Kapil ji, India has grown up when nobody was looking!
‘Dirty’ is a state of mind. So is ‘Dangerous’. India can handle both. Dhanyavad!

19 comments:

K.V.N. MURTHY said...

Absolute truth explained very vividly.

Anonymous said...

Well said " 'Dirty' is a state of mind. So is dangerous.
We should get over this inhibition, control our mind and everything will fall in place. We will live a comfortable and quality life.

Cheers!

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

Kapil sibal is the Minister who is in the habit on putting his foot in the mouth every other day :)

Sharvani said...

Isn't Kapil Sibal the same who rooted for India's right to education?And abusive content or not, internet is now a growing medium for getting the real kind of education, of being up-to-date with whats going on in the world. To restrict it or exert any kind of control over it is an idea which is simply impossible to comprehend. Kapil should know that it would only lead him to political gallows.

manu said...

love ur post ma'am! Kapil Da ka jawab nahi, aur Kapil da ke paas bhi iska jawab nahi!

also, it feels cleaner and better to be dirty in this hypocrite world, as long as you just be yourself and not bother about such tags...

manu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ashwini Sane said...

M'am so right you are. I just think maybe they just want to divert the FDI issue from the people as many say is really important for the country and economy. Who knows why this sudden interest to ban freedom on the net?

RAJ47 said...

Gr8 post! Dhanyavad!!

vandana sivadas said...

2G scam, deep rooted corruption, hoarded money and more, trafficking and a bunch of other grease on the face issues are apparently not as dangerous as freedom of expression that could probably make the government faceless! Strange ways our politicians behave.

Tsomo85 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tsomo85 said...

I totally agree. Even I've learned so much from criticism or their opinions. Some doesn't even make sense to me but then whocares, right? I've learned to store everything that's important & flush the ones that are not. Specially, when I, myself can not be politically correct as well. I remember ones I had this huge cyper war with bunch of Nepalese on facebook group called: MOMO. Only because I said some good things about India & all of sudden I start getting hate comments & death threat. One guy even made fake Facebook account of me with my stolen DP. Writing hate messages & I got warned that if I don't change my soft opinion on India they won't remove that fake page. This all happened 4-5 years ago. But as time passed luckily I made good friends with some of them. Some even end up attending Tibetan cause in their hometown & start buying Tibetan "Student For Free Tibet" t-shirts & stuff just to support our cause. Ha ha ha I end up even making bhakra out of this guy in real life & he thought that's pretty amusing. HAHA

And he was the guy who actually made that stupid fake account of me. lol So all these bashing & ranting can get over with at some point so what's the big deal na. Even I've took some people's opinion way too serious without even knowing that person, but then at end of day it's just an opinion & we learn as the day pass. So why whine about such a stuff? I'm glad before the New Year I've overcome this whining business! And I think so should Kabil Sibal! It's time to face the reality & gain something positive out of it.
:-)

Tsomo85 said...

Omg! Typo in my bhakra sentence, please avoid.

Anil Kumar said...
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Anil Kumar said...

I think Kapil Sibal is dreaming to be next "Achha Bachha" of Sonia Gandhi after sardar Manmohan Singh. Sibal does like 7 Racecourse road very much.

Internet should never be controlled. What should be controlled is the bombardment of obscenity and showing woman as a commodity on TV channels. They spoil the society since the viewers are bombarded with CHEAP stuff even if someone wants to watch only news.

South Korea is the most internet wired country in the world. But you dont see the kind of vulgar advertisement or programs here. And the country has more caring people than India's junglee - specially northern India. All these junglee's are manufactured by watching CHEAP STUFF of BOLLYWOOD and our shameful news channels.

Kapil Sibbal got his target wrong....So does Shobha ji who till last week was not much impressed by Vidya balan's asshole acts and this week she is using her to prove a point to Sibal.

Coming back to Delhi-Belly's Aamir khan/Kiran Rao blessed with a son. My message to Kiran Rao is that she should be thankful to medical research that her Bhosadi didn't go through the pain of child birth. And she also got a chutia son delivered by someone who may have her mazboori. Money can keep a BHOSADI intact.

Thats why you need internet. As an individual I can vent my anger at these Bhosadi waale couple who will stopp to low levels to make cheap money and on top of that these FM radios who called ladies at their home and asked them what do they think about Boss DK song. So Kiran - Glad your bhosadi is intact and smelling as bad as it was before. Good Luck Aamir Khan.

Life Unordinary said...

good mix of satire and sarcasm!

Rakesh Kumar Jha said...

Hey kapil..dnt get scared... Get intensely fearful..dirty pic got 4* coz it told the truth bt new india lyk...
do more of ur childish talks bt fb n tweeter n we will welcome u with super comments .. That gonna put u in weird situation ahead ... All the best ..

Bhagat Singh said...

please check
कपिल सिब्बल यां इन्टरनेट सेन्सरशिप के खिलाफ आवाज़ उठाने पर होगा क्रिमिनल केस दर्ज

http://bhagatsinghkrantisena.blogspot.com/

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