Showing support for the ongoing farmer protest, filmmaker Navjot Gulati posted a boastful tweet yesterday that caught the attention of Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Gulati tweeted that a security officer at refused to frisk him at the airport saying, “Sir, you people are already doing so much for all of us and now you are fighting to save the country. My heart does not allow me to suspect you.”
Apparently, Gulati was trying to insinuate that the security officer was reluctant to frisk Gulati out of gratitude towards the ‘farmers’ protesting against the three farm laws. However, Gulati did not mention how come the security officer assumed that Gulati was a farmer or was in any associated with farmer protest. It is also notable that Gulati is a film maker, and it is not known how he has been contributing to the nation by making movies.
Interestingly, Gulati’s tweet caught the eye of the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri whose response to Gulati’s tweet made him delete the tweet. One popular Twitter user tagged the Minister on Gulati’s tweet and wrote, “Who’s this security officer?” To this, the Minister responded that he would also like to know about the security officer who refused to frisk Gulati.
It may be noted that airport security is handled by CISF in India, which is known as a very professional force. They don’t make any difference while checking people at airports and other places where they are deployed. Even if someone working at CISF has an affinity to a cause, they will not neglect their duty to show such affinity. By claiming that a CISF personnel refused to frisk him, Gulati actually ended up insinuating that the security officer was disregarding his duties.
Perhaps realising that the tweet could land him in trouble, Gulati deleted his tweet later, and also made his Twitter account protected. However, his tweet already sparked memes on Twitter with several people tweeting along the lines of Gulati’s tweet. JNU scientist and author Dr. Anand Ranganathan picked up the trend and posted a tweet similar to Gulati’s weaving a story about how a staff member at Saravana Bhawan at Connaught Place in Delhi refused to accept payment from him out of gratitude for his work.
Saravana bhavan guy refused to take money from me. I asked why. He said: “Saar, aap log pehle hi humare liya itna karte ho aur ab iss desh ko bachane ke liye lad rahe ho. Aap logo se paise lene ka dil hi nahi karta.” I insisted he do his job. He took the money with a heavy heart.
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) December 16, 2020
Another popular Twitter user who goes by Twitter id @theskindoctor13 took a dig at Gulati’s tweet and sarcastically wrote how once a patient refused to pay his consultation fee because the patient thought that he was not doing enough and was not even fighting to save the country.
A patient at my clinic refused to give consultation fee. I asked why. He said ‘Sir aap pehle hi kisi ke liye kuch nahi karte aur ab desh ko bachane ke liye ladd bhi nahi rahe. Aapko paise dene ka dil hi nahi karta’. I insisted that he give but he punched me in the eye and left.
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) December 16, 2020
Joining the trend journalist Abhijit Iyer Mitra also posted an amusing story about his similar experience at a Rolls Royce showroom where the showroom owner refused to take money from him for a Phantom car that he bought from the showroom.
I landed up at the Rolls Royce show room, & the owner refused to take money for my new Phantom. He said “Madam, aap itna paad maarte ho, ki desh ko gas-daata banke singlehandedly atmanirbhar kar ke Gandhi ka Sapna saakar kar diya” I insisted but he said no, hugged me & cried.
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) December 16, 2020
Taking advantage of the meme, OpIndia CEO Rahul Roshan also jokingly pulled a leg of OpIndia Editor Nupur J Sharma and tweeted how she refused to accept the salary for this month out of gratitude for whatever he did for the whole OpIndia team. He also mentioned how she got emotional when he insisted to pay.
Nupur refused to take salary for December. I asked why. She said “Sir, aap pehle hi puri team ke liya itna karte ho aur ab iss desh ko bachane ke liye lad rahe ho. Aap se paise lene ka dil hi nahi karta.” I insisted she must never change her mind. She smiled, and then she cried.
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) December 16, 2020
Twitter in India was filled with such tweets today, with people making up stories to mock the claim made by Navjot Gulati.
The ongoing farmer protest is being used by several media outlets to peddle their agenda and built a fake narrative. Several media outlets have been trying to fearmonger about use of force by government against the protesting farmers.
