Few authors have captured the popular mood like Chetan Bhagat through his best-selling books. He's now parlayed that into a cottage industry, or maybe more like a luxury apartment, since he's now earning more from TV shows and the lecture circuit, lending the teeming, sweating millions pieces of his wisdom, as also to some selected VIP beneficiaries. Here's a look at his contribution to Indian society and politics.
Three idiots
The Aamir Khan starrer was loosely based on Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone. The author himself seems to have taken a novel turn. Looking at two states, Delhi and Bihar, Bhagat decided it was time to lend ‘Someone' a hand. It was no coincidence that the PM took a dig at his opponents during a Bihar rally comparing the Grand Alliance to Three Idiots (Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Rahul Gandhi). Maybe Modi has found the speechwriter he has been looking for to make his verbal attacks more filmy and dramatic. Also, now that we know who the Someone is, we can look forward to Bhagat's next lecture topic, which is…
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History is bunk
Bhagat clearly believes he belongs in exalted company. It was the celebrated Henry Ford who made the comment about history being bunk, and now we have Bhagat questioning historians returning awards by tweeting; "What do historians do? I am genuinely curious. This happened. Then this happened. Then this. Ok work done for the day." To which, one Akshar Pathak tweeted back: " @chetanbhagat. What do authors do? I am genuinely curious. Judge one talent show, then judge one dance show. Ok work done for the day." That makes a good point, or five point, since Bhagat has been using his celebrityhood to expand his public exposure, and his bank balance, by appearing as a judge on banal but popular TV shows. The larger issue is that Bhagat's curious and sudden disdain for historians, among the more respected members of any society, is that they are making a statement against the Modi government, of which Bhagat seems to have appointed himself as chief proper-upper. There really should be someone judging that.
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The Lost Liberal
In his latest rant in favour of the Modi government, Bhagat has come up with a strange argument; that liberals are lost souls, like babes in the wood, who are like that only because they are born of privilege (in his categorisation, sipping tea out of China cups). Privilege in Bhagat's world view, also includes an English Medium education and a trip to Disneyland (as opposed to Appu Ghar). Bhagat increasingly looks like he needs a trip to Disneyland since he is so into his new fantasy world which involves taking up arms, Don Quixote style, against anyone who opposes Modi. His reasoning: if Amit Shah and Modi had both gone to Doon School, the liberals would view them more favourably. If all this sounds similar to the steaming piles of matter we see behind bullock carts, it is only because we all believed Bhagat was the Last Liberal instead of the Lost Liberal.
Saying sorry...sort of
He has tried, though not very successfully, to defend his new-found Modi fandom. Like when he tweeted about returning his Sahitya Academy Award, then pretended to remember that he hadn't been given one. After being soundly roasted and trolled on social media, he tried to pass it off as a joke but no one was laughing. We now await the sequel to his book, The Three Mistakes of My Life.
