Barely have the embers over the heated clash between conservatives and liberals on banning non-vegetarian food died down that a new flash point has emerged – the ban on non-veg jokes.
A fringe right wing group, Shri Lakshman Sena, has demanded an outright ban on what is known in the parlance as ‘non-vegetarian jokes’. Lakshman Sena leader Pious Prabhu said such jokes are alien to Indian culture and hurt sentiments of devout Hindus. “Our ancient heritage never had place for vulgar non-vegetarian jokes. It is about time they are banned along with meat. Why crack such jokes which are clearly of Western origin when we have our own indigenous tradition of Sardarji and Santa Banta type jokes to borrow from?” an earnest Prabhu told The UnReal Times.
The move has evoked howls of protest with Rajdeep Sardesai being the first off the block with his tweet: “Luckily in my building, we crack all types of jokes – the Kapil Sharma slapstick to AIB roast to URT jokes on Sagarika. Thank god for Colaba. Enjoy! Bye.” He followed it up with a choice non-veg tweet that he and his friends had recently savored in upscale Bandra.
Soon, a horde of trolls descended on Rajdeep with non-vegetarian abuse, more incensed by the fact that he was once again boasting about his posh locality. Rajdeep initially tried to indulge in pacifist Gandhigiri, but soon lost his patience and uttered the ‘f’ word, inviting another wave of troll attacks, including a reprimand from Big B: “T 2020: Gosh…That was not expected of you, Rajdeep.”
This provided the perfect cue for Sagarika to enter the debate, tweeting: “Proud of my husband. There for the family, there for the country”. She soon followed it up by a ToI blog titled “Ban on non-vegetarian jokes: Why liberal Hindus need to reclaim the humour space”.