A few weeks ago, Rahul Gandhi had said that there will be earthquake in the nation if he spoke. He claimed that he had “proof” of personal corruption charges against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Later, Rahul Gandhi spoke, only to be revealed that the “proof” that he referred to had already been rejected as subpar by the Supreme Court.
This damp squib added to yet another joke to the already vast depository of Rahul Gandhi jokes, where “bhukamp” or “earthquake” became associated with it. So much so that even NDTV journalists had quipped about Rahul Gandhi and earthquake, as is documented in this report.
Replying to the Motion of Thanks to President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, PM Modi started with updating the house that his government was aware of the earthquake that happened last night and was ready to assist state governments if required. This was factual and as per the latest reports, there have been no major damage or any casualties due to the earthquake.
Then he changed the tone and sarcastically referred to the earthquake again. Anyone with average IQ and who has been following Indian politics, would have known that he was referring to Rahul Gandhi. To make the Rahul Gandhi reference much more obvious, he referred to the new definition of “scam” that Rahul Gandhi had given a couple of days back:
Aakhir bhukamp aaya kyun,jab koi SCAM mein bhi seva,namrata ka bhaav dekhta hai to dharti maa bhi dukhi ho jaati hai aur bhukamp aata hai-PM
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 7, 2017
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It was obvious that he was referring to Rahul Gandhi. And it should definitely be obvious to a journalist who tracks politics.
However, this was too much to decipher for Editor of Mumbai edition of The Hindu, who thought that the statement of PM Modi was “unscientific”:
Rewrite your science textbooks, people https://t.co/WvpeSkUD7Q
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) February 7, 2017
Or maybe he was also sarcastic when he said “rewrite your science textbooks”? No, he clarified that he was “hurt” at this statement of the Prime Minister:
As a follower of science, not of satire in natural tragedies and certainly not of superstition, yes it has hurt me. https://t.co/X0Y6eyftto
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) February 7, 2017
So Mr. Sachin Kalbag, who had earlier mistaken a fake CBSSE website as the official one, is someone who doesn’t approve of making sarcastic or satirical comments amid natural tragedies. That’s bad news for thousands of people, especially those on Twitter, who come out with earthquake jokes seconds after an earthquake is reported.
Except that Mr. Kalbag himself appears to be one of those. This is what he tweeted on a day an earthquake had jolted North India:
What we really need is a shake-up of our democracy. #earthquake
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) March 5, 2012
So essentially editor of a newspaper, who made a political comment using earthquake on the same day quake had happened, was “hurt” when the Prime Minister did the same, on the following day after assuring all help.
People pointed out to Mr. Kalbag that it was not the only time he had made light comments around earthquakes, which were perhaps not natural tragedies before Modi took over.
Is this u making some earthquake analogy? Satire on earthquake @SachinKalbag? pic.twitter.com/2vXOGeNGDY
— Nupur (@UnSubtleDesi) February 7, 2017
Mr. Kalbag can continue defending his double standards and hiding behind “science”, but his tweet only shows that either he is naïve to not get the political humour that PM Modi indulged in or he is deliberately twisting Modi’s statement in literal sense to nitpick.
And talking of earthquakes and nit-picking:
@UnSubtleDesi And @SachinKalbag , he has done more for the Gujarat earthquake victims that you would have even dreamt about. Quit nitpicking
— Divya (@divya_16_) February 7, 2017
