On 28th April, Shyam Rangeela, a popular comedian published a video on YouTube that mocked Prime Minister Modi and his apolitical interview with Akshay Kumar. In the video Shyam was seen mocking both PM Modi and Akshay Kumar, even insinuating that the questions were Whatsapped to Kumar. The video was soon picked up by opposition parties like Congress and even Pakistan (the two seem connected at the hip, recently) to mock PM Modi.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvHjdOxFYY]
The spoof was, of course, picked up by Congress leaders like Dr Ajoy Kumar.
Too funny!!Funny NON POLITICAL Interview of Modi JI and Akshay Kumar || Election 2019 – YouTube https://t.co/FNpILOeTlD
— Dr Ajoy Kumar (@drajoykumar) May 2, 2019
Leftist propaganda websites like Scroll that was then peddled by Anti-Modi, shoddy journalists like Anna Vetticad.
Haha, @scroll_in @ShyamRangeela #VikalpMehta, I did not think it was possible to make that #NarendraModi–#AkshayKumar interview any funnier than it already is, but you managed. This really IS hilarious! https://t.co/A2ZYUwoyMk
— Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) May 1, 2019
BBC did an interview with Shyam Rangeela as well, highlighting the segment mocking PM Modi and Akshay Kumar for the interview.
Interestingly, it must be recalled that Shyam Rangeela is the same comedian who had accused The Wire of twisting his words earlier. In 2017, The Wire had ran a story that Shyam Rangeela was asked not to mimic Modi but was given permission to mimic Rahul Gandhi on a television show. Rangeela had confirmed to OpIndia that The Wire was the first one from the mainstream media to approach him, but they twisted his words, which gave the entire story an anti-BJP and anti-Modi spin. The truth was that he was asked to stay away from political mimicry in the show and not do spoofs on either Modi or Rahul Gandhi.
Now, however, Shyam Rangeela has come up with another video talking about the spoof segment and saying ‘aayega to Modi hi’.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwLeyvjaLls]
In the video, Shyam Rangeela says that it is his job to entertain and make fun of people and he will continue to mock not just PM Modi but even other leaders from other political parties like Congress and AAP.
He says he doesn’t ordinarily care when political parties pick up his videos to lash out at opponents, but it does affect him with Pakistani media does the same. He says his video was featured by Pakistani media to insinuate that India doesn’t like or respect Prime Minister Modi at all and that the country is sick and tired of PM Modi.
He says there was nothing of the kind in the video and he has been deeply distressed by Pakistan Media’s portrayal.
He says the Pakistan media channel that showed his spoof video was called ‘Ab Tak’, a channel that talks big while copying Indian channel ‘Aaj Tak’.
He then gives out a message for Pakistan media and channels like Ab Tak saying that ‘Ayenge to Modi ji hi’. He said that even though he mocked PM Modi, he is the same comedian who is now saying that it would be PM Modi who would come back to power.
Reiterating that it is his job to mock, he asks Pakistan media why they never showed the videos where he was mocking Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders. He then says that Pakistan doesn’t show videos mocking Congress and only that of Modi being mocked because they are “allergic” to Modi. And because Pakistan is allergic to Modi, he is the one who will come back to power in 2019.
He continues saying that he likes the fact that Pakistan dislikes PM Modi because it makes him feel like there is one man who Pakistan fears.
He then throws a challenge to the Pakistan media. He says that he will soon make a video that is a spoof on Rahul Gandhi and if that video is shown by Pakistan media in the same demeaning light that they projected PM Modi, then he promises he will vote for Rahul Gandhi. He says that if Pakistan starts detesting Rahul Gandhi as much as it detests PM Modi, then he would have no issue voting for Congress too.
Shyam Rangeela then apologises to people who might have been hurt by Pakistan’s portrayal of his video but says that he will continue to make such videos as is his job.
Concluding the video message, Shyam says that his vote will go to the man who Pakistan dislikes and opposes and that he does not belong to any political party, but when it comes to India and someone from outside India mocking the Prime Minister, he will vote for the man who Pakistan dislikes.
