Political leaders are often the subject of ridicule and lampooning; they would best ignore it to look mature and tolerant
Kalyan Banerjee (67), a member of parliament representing Serampore Lok Sabha constituency, whose name has not been heard hitherto outside his home State of Bengal has been a national “celebrity” since early this week. His shortcut to stardom was facilitated by mimicking Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, who is also the chairman of Rajya Sabha. What we saw on TV screens was Banerjee, a lawyer by profession, doing some kind of body movements, much to the amusement of the gang around him. Someone has to explain afterwards that he was lampooning the vice-president who is 72 years old and a lawyer like Banerjee.
Banerjee’s performance went for many minutes and all had a hearty laugh at the expense of Dhankar. What and how Banerjee walks and behaves after five years from now is anybody’s guess. His chief minister Mamta Banerjee and the scion of the Congress family have justified his action by providing some hilarious moments. The Bengal chief minister is on record stating that Banerjee was mimicking and not mocking the vice president. Easier said than done. Isn't it the same Banerjee who unleashed her police at Ambikesh Mahapatra, the Jadavpur University professor, who forwarded a cartoon that had ridiculed her? To forward an innocuous cartoon by e-mail was a cardinal sin according to the Trinamool Congress chief who is famous for her resistance to restrictions on freedom of expression. Mamta Banerjee’s two faces of mockery and mimicking have confused her followers across the nation.
Those who belittle the mimicking of the vice-president of India by terming it as an art form should remember that Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, threw out V P Menon, the all-powerful Secretary of State, on charges of aping him in a private function attended only by select secretaries of the GoI.
Menon, who was in his true form after a couple of sun-downers reportedly mimicked Nehru in a get-together of his colleagues, all secretaries. One of the fifth columnists present on the occasion informed Nehru that Menon had made him a butt of jokes. The next day when Nehru met Menon, the former asked him if he had been told that Menon was good at mimicking others. “We are a free nation and it does not mean that we should sacrifice our sense of humour,” retorted Menon. This marked the end of Menon’s career in the corridors of power and he was kicked upstairs by none other than Nehru.
This incident was recounted by MKK Nair, an IAS officer of the 1947 batch in his memoirs “With No ill will towards Anybody”. For those who are not familiar with the name MKK Nair, he was Menon’s Man Friday since the day the duo met each other. It is said that Nehru had a unique sense of humour. Some of his hangers-on (mainly journalists) are credited with this tom-tom to portray Nehru as a true liberal. In this case, we have to go by the dictum all that glitters is not gold.
The mimicry has emerged as the pastime of the Kerala population. Mimicry artists are very much in demand. Some of the top film stars like Mammootty, Jairam, Harisree Ashokan, Ramesh Pisharody, and the Siddique-Lal duo, all had their roots in mimicry stages. They stole the limelight by mimicking former chief ministers E K Nayanar, K Karunakaran, Oommen Chandi, A K Antony, and V S Achuthanandan. The quality of their show was such that Antony, the then chief minister, travelling by train from Thiruvananthapuram to Malabar asked a mimicry artist who was in the compartment that was it necessary for both of them to travel to Malabar. Even Pinarayi Vijayan has not escaped from the caricaturing by these artists. But they are unanimous in their decision not to hurt the characters they portray. It is time our politicians learn one or two tricks of the trade from these real stars.
(The writer is a special correspondent with the Pioneer; views are personal)
