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Akshay Kumar deletes old tweets on petrol price hike, but public memory isn’t that short

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Modi government does not take kindly to criticism. Those who do it are labelled anti-national, anti-Sanksari.

Healthy criticism is a thing of past now. When the Bharatiya Janata Party was campaigning in full swing in 2014, it raised issues that resonated with the common man. And Bollywood stars like Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal routinely criticised the UPA government.

At that time, it didn’t seem like they were taking sides when they would tweet jokes about rising fuel prices. But what happened now?

 Not only have they gone silent, but they are travelling back in time and erasing their past too.

Akshay Kumar has deleted his old tweet from 2012 when he took a dig at the high cost of fuel. So, does it mean that higher fuel prices do not hurt the ‘common janata party’ now?

From such acts, it is abundantly clear that the Modi government does not take kindly to criticism. Those who do it are labelled anti-national, anti-sanksari. So, nobody wants to take the ‘troll-risk’. In an interview with the AIB, Shah Rukh Khan admitted that he has become extremely cautious while tweeting anything because trolls are always ready.

But it’s not just Akshay Kumar or Paresh Rawal or Anupam Kher who have become mum post 2014. In a hypocrisy bust video, I had shown how big names of the BJP explained the economics of fuel pricing when in opposition. From ‘Tel Ka Tadka’ featuring Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to ‘Mar diya Mehengai Ne’ by Sushma Swaraj – such satirical comments are no longer available.

Because of the Karnataka election this year, the fuel price hike was stopped for 20 days. If Modi government can control fuel prices for an election, why can’t it do so forever?

Gone are the days when movies were made on issues that challenged the economic policies of the government. You would see Amitabh Bachchan play the role of a coolie to highlight issues of the proletariat, or a cop to expose corruption. But as author Sandip Roy argues, he too has become silent. Kajol also had to take down the video in which she was consuming beef as her ‘Singham’ husband’s career could be hurt because of #Trolls.

And since celebrities and leaders are mum, so are the stars. Why? Because the troll sena is paid to keep things look normal. And this normalisation of the pain has become so common that now citizens are confused. Modi fans who cried about inflation, fuel prices, etc. are now better than even Raghuram Rajan in explaining the theory of fuel pricing. But why didn’t they know about this before 2014?

Bollywood could have taken an active part in portraying the fallacies of this government. But since healthy criticism is a thing of past now, a movie on demonetisation will not be made.

Nowadays, in B-town, opinion matters only if it’s in praise of the government. Silence and deletion is a preferred option. This might save their career, but this won’t assure a better future for people. If Modi gets defeated tomorrow, will they start speaking up again? And even if they do, will they still be credible?

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