Who's afraid of Salman Khan?
Mother Teresa ke baad Salman Khan. Pai laago bhai...
He's a good guy. No doubt about that. I would, in fact, recommend that his family start an online petition to get him out of jail. His millions of fans and followers will no doubt support him. The family can then apply for clemency to the president and seek pardon. That way, they wouldn't have to spend the next 13 years trying to get him out on bail, like they have done so far, using every trick in the book. While I was the first to compliment the Indian judiciary for its strong stand, I am very very curious to see how this plays out. Let's wait and watch.
Don't get me wrong. I don't know Salman Khan. At all. Except through his movies. I definitely have no reason to dislike him. If anything, I know of several instances when his Being Human foundation has paid for some life-altering surgeries for the poor and needy, and that, for me, is a very noble thing. People say he is a wonderful human being. I believe them. Especially, when I see the humility with which he has reacted to the verdict that gave him a five-year jail sentence for a crime for which he could have got away with much less, I know that this is god's child. He will pay Karma's dues with the grace befitting his grandness and emerge victorious.
Therefore, I am writing about this because like many other attention-grabbing news items, the Salman Khan verdict has exposed the hypocrisy and feudal racism of India's elite - the twitterati, the chaterati and the ficklerati - who believe and support each other in their crimes of omission and commission... Who only show outrage now because of the fear that if someone of Salman's stature could not play the system and get away with it, will they be next? Is the era of bribery, theft and feudal inequality on which they have built their empires coming to an end? Baap re baap. If so, where does it leave them? Does it mean they cannot give the poor corrupt policeman a Rolex watch and persuade him to NOT take the breathalyzer test when he catches them drunk, mowing down people on the streets? I mean aren't they helping the poor police officer in a way? Could he possibly afford a Rolex watch otherwise? What is India coming to? And what sort of judge is this who dared sentence Salman... I mean he's the box office king ya. You mean the law sees everyone equally? How can that be when life is so unequal, and when they have spent all their lives keeping that inequality alive in the most corrupt and morally despicable ways.
You mean that man on the street who died is as important as Salman Khan and the 800 crores riding on him? Shares of Eros and other film companies have come crashing down for god's sake ya, over justice being granted to a man whose name people don't even know, nor have bothered to find out - a faceless, homeless sleeper on the footpath who went by the name of Nurullah Mehboob Sharif.
Some useless bloke who couldn't even find a friend's house to crash in when he was broke because his friends lived in the gutter. WTF. Never mind that Ravindra Patil - the police bodyguard who initially reported that Salman killed a man - died a beggar's death under pressure, for refusing to change his original statement. He was oversmart, that cop Ravindra Patil; he should have changed his statement to say that Salman's driver was driving and everybody would be rich and free now. I mean the driver himself lied and was willing to go to jail for his bada saab, so what was this chota mota policeman's problem ya?
And come on, Salman is only suffering because he is a celebrity. Anyone else would have got away with much less... I am aghast at this baloney. I once met a lady in London whose son was implicated along with Sanjay Dutt in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and spent years in jail with the actor. The frail old woman bribed the prison guards everyday so they would not beat up her son in the lock up. Sanjay Dutt had no such fear of being beaten, he is a celebrity after all. I heard a while ago that the frail old lady died. At the time of her death, her son was still in jail. He was never granted bail for family functions or holidays or shoots - he stayed in. All the while hoping for a miracle. I don't know where he is now.
We have cried and outraged against the old system and brought in a new government because we wanted change. We need change. Badly. And yet, anything that shifts the status quo sends people into so much panic. This is an accident that happened way back in 2002. One man died and four others were injured. Another man, the police bodyguard, died unattended and neglected, in 2007 as a consequence of what happened to him during this incident. Journalists who wrote about inspector Patil were threatened and forced to apologise and withdraw their stories. Why? Isn't 13 years long enough to play the system? Isn't it high time things changed? Just because Puru Rajkumar, the son of famous actor Rajkumar, went scot free for a similar incident 20 years ago, should Salman be spared too?
As for the sycophants shouting from their rooftops about Bhai's largesse, and making statements like "people who live on the streets are dogs who deserve to die like dogs", and "it's the government's fault that it forces people to live on the streets and how is that Salman Bhai's fault", let's treat them as entertainment please. And yes, I would definitely like to know what they have been snorting to spout such inhumane rubbish.
I will pray for Salman and his family. And I will pray for my country that it becomes a better place for all. Equally.