The recent news of Kiku Sharda getting arrested by the Mumbai Police for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is taking the twitter and the entertainment industry by storm.
Kiku Sharda was arrested for hurting the sentiments of Dera followers after he did mimicry of their chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on the show, Jashan-e-Umeed.
Now the thing is, we Indians sure do value the humor, be it in any form, a lot. We spend a considerable amount of money on comedy shows, movies and events. Me too, I really have a thing for guys with good sense of humor. Actually all the girls do. And one of the most popular form of comedy is mimicry.
We have grown up watching students mimicking their teachers, teens mimicking their friends and don’t we all just laugh our ass off when we see the comedians mimicking our favorite movie stars?
So what goes wrong when a comedian tries the same with a godman? Or when any news channel displays a report on them? What is with the people and the God men?
Sure, India is a religious and spiritual country. It is a blend of various cultures, ideologies, and belief. And to guide us to the ultimate, we have these God men, who are supposed to show us the right direction, to lead us to the divine path.
Thousands and millions of people follow them, which is not wrong because we are a part of an independent and democratic country. We have the right to choose what we think is right. My point is “is it wise to follow them blindly”?
It has been merely few days since the case of Asaram Bapu surfaced. The famous religious leader, who was like God to some people, turned out to be the reason they do not believe in God anymore.
As said by the mother of alleged rape victim, “We could not have imagined that a person whom we considered god could do this to my daughter. We are never going to have a normal life,” This shakes me to the core thinking that how many victims and their relatives must be thinking like that.
Also we cannot forget the case of Nirmal Baba, who was worshipped by a huge mass of people in India for his unique problem solving skills and was later accused of declaring himself as God and of cheating the public. The Baba was advertising himself through 35 TV channels and had collected Rupees 235 crore from the innocent public. He collects Rupees 2,000 from a person desiring attendance at “samaagam” (meeting with the public) and compels everyone to pay 10% of his or her earnings.
The reason that these people either get away with their deeds or get caught very late is US. We just follow them blindly because they put up a well written speech, show us some traditional magic tricks and give us some absolutely nonsense solutions to our problems. And we are so desperate regarding our problems that instead of sitting and thinking about it, we immediately run to the local Godman.
I am not saying that all the God men are like that, nor am I saying that we should not follow them. All I want to say is that even our God men and sages are humans. If a sage as respected and as revered as Vishwamitra can fall for aapsara, then modern say God men are obviously more prone to make mistakes.
So, maybe it is for the best if we expect a little less from our God men and keep an open mind when it comes to them. And obviously do not hurt our feelings if an innocent actor tries to mimic any one of them for making a little money.
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
