Recently, a vlogger from North India came to Fort Kochi, Kerala, and visited some tourist places there. Social media warriors hunt for controversies to drive engagement. If there aren’t any, they create a few, then push the topic and rage-bait for engagement. Only divisive topics spark online debates and arguments, which makes the subject go viral.
Naturally, in a diverse country like India, food habits and cultures differ. Nothing creates more controversy than food in a country where mobs can barge into your kitchen, pry open your fridge and lynch you to death if the leftovers you had kept are not to their liking. It fetches them relevance; it gifts their masters votes and power, so why not? When this henchman with a camera came to Fort Kochi, he found a cafe that had been running for the last 40 years in the tourist town, and it sent him apoplectic.
The cafe is named Kashi Art Cafe, and like most restaurants in Kerala, it had beef and pork on its menu. That was crime number one, even when the owner explained that the name came from Japanese and has nothing to do with the holy city in Uttar Pradesh. The cafe owner is a Christian, even though it is irrelevant. But since the idea was to create controversy and rage-bait, the vlogger claimed that it was an Islamic conspiracy to insult Hinduism. The second crime was an art installation by the famous sculptor Riyas Komu, an internationally acclaimed artist, sculptor, and curator of biennials worldwide. The cafe featured an installation that had Gandhi and Jinnah in the same frame. In an art cafe, art installations are natural. Any art connoisseur knows artworks provoke you and make you think. But art belongs to a civilised society, and civilisation and agenda-driven social media trolls are polar opposites. For the uninitiated, it depicted how the two historical figures from the same region of Gujarat had ended up being the fathers of the nations of India and Pakistan, both of which were born drowned in Partition blood.
According to the vlogger, this was proof that Kerala worshipped Jinnah. Then the same blogger travelled to other parts of Kerala, found some masjids, and concluded Kerala has become Talibanised. Such vile propaganda is nothing new, as the right wing from Northern parts of the country has often propagated such things against three-and-a-half crore Keralites through every possible medium, including films like Kerala Story. Over the years, such allegations and propaganda have stopped surprising Keralites. The inherent racism has just become explicit, and Malayalis have learned to live with that. Remember that, even when other neighbouring states banned slimy, agenda-driven films tarnishing an entire state, Kerala chose to allow the screening of the film and treated it with the contempt it deserves.
So, what was surprising was the Kerala government’s knee-jerk reaction against this vlogger. For a society that often prides itself on freedom of expression, taking legal action against him was unbecoming. The vlogger’s way of expressing himself may lack common sense, courtesy, and truth, but the Constitution allows everyone to express their thoughts, however despicable they may be.
A case can be filed only if such acts incite violence. This gentleman was merely fishing for likes and shares from an equally uninformed, mostly semi-literate, communally charged audience that he caters to. He was merely judging Kerala society with the eyes of someone born and living in a different society, where illiteracy still prevails, where social cohesion is lacking, which is riot-prone, is averse to diversity and lacks the sophistication to appreciate art and literature. Such shallowness and boorishness mark communities that follow such vloggers. The poor man was merely aiming for customer satisfaction by dishing out the poison that his audience craves. Or, he was merely doing his duty and being faithful to whoever had hired him to push their agenda. Or, it was a mere hallucination dreamt up by a brain cooked by above-400 AQI air. It doesn’t matter.
Just as the people of Kerala or any Indian have the right to eat whatever they prefer, as long as it isn’t illegal, a vlogger armed with a mobile phone from any part of the country has the right to criticise, mock, or even abuse people as well. The answer to fascism cannot be liberal fascism, which is just the other side of the same coin. The sooner the Kerala government realises their mistake and withdraws the case against the vlogger, the better. He won’t be the last one with a mobile phone and rage-bait to visit the state. They will come in waves, especially as elections near. The hate and racism aren’t going to go away any time soon. One can’t fight hatred, prejudice, racism, casteism, linguistic, and religious chauvinism by mirroring them back. Learn to live with such things by ignoring them. Otherwise, what is the point of calling yourself an educated state if you behave exactly like the less fortunate states that are yet to come out of medieval darkness?
mail@asura.co.in