Three very agitated women tried their best to get Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik to admit on CNN IBN's Face the Nation that he has no adhikaar to decide what is 'Indian culture'.
Sadly, they failed. They failed because you cannot use reason or logic with a man who wishes to give a memorandum to the Karnataka CM and police requesting them not to allow the celebration of 'Valenteens Day'.
"Agar.. agar.. agar police aapke memorandum par act nahin ki to aap kya karenge.." sputtered Sagarika Ghose, in shock and excitement.
Muthalik will 'request' shopkeepers not to sell cards as it leads their mas and behens astray.
"Aapko kaun adhikaar deta hai bhartiya sanskriti ke thekedaar banne ka", thundered the true-blue English news anchor, frantically trying to string together thoughts in Hindi.
Yes, talking of 'setting the agenda' at the very least he got CNN IBN to hold a half hour discussion with him in the rashtrabhasha!
The truth is yesterday Muthalik was a nobody. Today he got half an hour on prime time television to loftily declare that "hazaaron lakhon log hamara saath de rahe hain".
If I were a politician looking to make a 'national launch' I would run to the nearest pub, beat up a few women and send the tape to all news channels.
Then I would powder up and wait for my turn to beam to the camera and declare,"2008 mein Feb 14 ko Mumbai mein aath ladkiyon ke upar atyachar hua.. aur Dilli mein 17 ladkiyon par!"
Yes, there are voices which say 'fight back' but it is one thing to join a group on Facebook and another to actually fight back when a bunch of hooligans try to tear off your clothes.
Wish you all a happy Valenteens Day.
