Glasshouse

CHIVALRY WITH A CAVEAT

Uttar Pradesh politics briefly suspended its mutual acrimony after offensive social media posts targeting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s daughter, Aditi, triggered public outrage. In a rare cross-party gesture, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condemned the remarks, saying disrespect towards any daughter was unacceptable. The UP CM went a step futher, saying he directed the police to register an FIR as soon as the matter came to his notice. “A daughter should always be respected,” he said, striking a tone that drew approval even beyond his own BJP. But the ceasefire was short-lived. Having defended the daughter, Yogi turned to Akhilesh’s supporters, saying the SP chief should also teach his “chele-chapate (sidekicks)” how to behave on social media. If Akhilesh could not, he added, the government would “explain it to them”. It will be a tough lesson, no doubt.

DIGITAL BLACKOUT | JAGAN LOSES FACEBOOK

Still smarting from its crushing election defeat and the denial of opposition party status in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, the YSR Congress Party has found a new grievance: the alleged disappearance of its official Facebook page. Party chief and former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has accused the Chandrababu Naidu government of trying to silence the opposition, first inside the assembly, and now even on social media. “After the takedown of our official Instagram handle earlier this year, the official YSRCP Facebook page is now inaccessible in India,” Jagan posted on X on June 14, tagging Union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the PMO, and a host of others with the hashtags, #SaveDemocracy and #FreedomOfSpeech. Jagan calls it an attack on democratic values, while the ruling Telugu Desam claims it was the consequence of cyber law violations.

IN THE DARK

Nothing exposes a creaking system quite like a VIP embarrassment. On June 11, a BJP event in Jaipur celebrating 12 years of the Modi government was repeatedly knocked off script by power cuts. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Rajasthan power minister Heera Lal Nagar were left waiting in the dark as power went off three times. Vaishnaw eventually pressed on with mobile phone torches, a fitting visual for a state still struggling to keep the lights on. The government, as usual, moved quickly against the small fry, suspending an electrician and an assistant engineer.

GIFT GRILLING

Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav rang in his 78th birthday on June 11, but the highlight of the celebrations was wife and ex-CM Rabri Devi gifting Bhojpuri singer Chhotu Chhalia her kangan for an inspired performance. But that happy moment stood marred two days later, when JD(U) legislative council whip Neeraj Kumar wrote to the Economic Offences Unit and the omnipresent ED, seeking an ‘independent valuation’ of the bracelet, and insinuating a benami angle to the ‘gift’. RJD MLC Sunil Singh dismissed the allegations, insisting it was “artificial metal” and remarking that all that glitters is not gold. Over to the agencies now.

WRONG BAR CODE

A film shoot in Haridwar recently ran into a distinctly local reality check. Gunmaaster G9, starring Emraan Hashmi, had a set with a signboard reading ‘Cafe & Bar’. Now, ‘bar’, even a fictitious one, was enough to bring out the saffron trolls and other protesters in what is one of Hinduism’s holiest towns. Videos of heated exchanges between locals and the film crew soon surfaced on social media, turning a movie prop into a public controversy. Finally, the filmmakers caved in: the word ‘bar’ was removed from the signboard. That done, the shoot continued in Haridwar and nearby Dehradun.

—with Avaneesh Mishra, Prasad Nichenametla and Amitabh Srivastava