New Delhi: Anil and Tina Ambani’s older son Jai Anmol seems to be having something of an ‘Alia Bhatt moment’.
The 29-year-old director of Reliance Capital, who has on multiple occasions been described as ‘a media shy billionaire’, seems to have abandoned his reticence and taken to Twitter to voice his opinions on masks, Covid vaccine and the disease in general.
The Warwick University graduate, with just over 27,000 followers on Twitter, made headlines Wednesday after his tweets slamming the Maharashtra government’s lockdown went viral.
“Professional ‘actors’ can continue shooting their films. Professional ‘cricketers’ can play their sport late into the night. Professional ‘politicians’ can continue their rallies with masses of people. But YOUR business or work is not ESSENTIAL. Still don’t get it?” he wrote.
Professional ‘actors’ can continue shooting their films. Professional ‘cricketers’ can play their sport late into the night. Professional ‘politicians’ can continue their rallies with masses of people. But YOUR business or work is not ESSENTIAL. Still don’t get it?
— Anmol A Ambani (@anmol_ambani) April 5, 2021
The younger Ambani also called the government’s initiative “a sinister plan”, which has nothing to do with the welfare of the people and used the hashtag ‘scamdemic’.
Covid is the new dogmatic religious cult of our times
— Anmol A Ambani (@anmol_ambani) January 22, 2021
Also read: Can’t change positivity norms — ICMR rejects Maharashtra plea to revise Covid test criteria
Lockdown realities
Jai Anmol Ambani does have a point questioning the lockdown when Indian medical experts on several occasions have questioned the lockdown and deemed it to be detrimental to the well being of the country’s already poor performing economy.
A study conducted by Indian researchers also said that ramping up Covid-19 testing is more beneficial and much more economically feasible than imposing lockdowns to tackle the pandemic.
But Ambani hasn’t stopped there. He also gave a ringing endorsement to anti-masking and boasted of his stance as an anti-vaxxer (people who disapprove of the use of vaccinations).
On his Twitter timeline are retweets of videos of comedian and self-confessed former drug addict Russel Brand, sporting a rudraksha mala, talking about how the treatment of Covid is “possibly a collaboration between government and pharma companies that benefit the both from a legal and administrative perspective”.
Another retweet is from American economic writer Jeffery Tucker, who was previously embroiled in a controversy for writing a racist magazine which characterised African Americans as crime-prone “animals”.
In his tweet Tucker called those favouring lockdowns humans “dancing to the devil”.
Also read: 1 in 3 Covid patients who recovered have neurological, mental health disorders: Study in Lancet
Billionaire unmasked
Ambani propagated his anti-vaccine views by retweeting sports psychologist and author Garret Kramer. Kramer has in multiple tweets questioned the Covid-19 vaccine and called people going for it “herd for slaughter”.
“Masks are a compliance test. Vaccines are an IQ test. Do your own research. Come to your own conclusions. Don’t just blindly follow the crowd. Take your health and life in your own hands. No ones coming to save us except ourselves,” Jai tweeted on 7 March.
As a new Covid wave in the country sees the number of daily cases cross 1 lakh – the highest in the world currently – and governments and doctors promote wearing masks following social distancing norms, this public icon, relying on conspiracy theories and propagating them, is simply a step in the wrong direction.
This report has been updated to accurately quote Jai Anmol Ambani in the headline. The error is regretted.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Now, warning from RBI Governor Das: Covid surge, lockdowns can hit demand, delay normalcy