I logged on to Twitter early ‘yesterday morning in
the night’ and found this funny story going around. This was about some
Litfest. No no, not some Literature Fest! This is about a Litigation Fest. And it involved someone threatening some people
they’d have to face the law for their tweets slandering a senior BJP leader. Well,
who could it be but Barkha Dutt; the
champion of defamation threats. Some people are smart enough to learn from the
mistakes of others. Some people are dumb not to learn even from their own
mistakes. What can we do, no? Anyway, let me cut the story short and let you
read the whole stuff which is storified here. If you fell off your chair laughing, don’t sue me, I’m not the one
who tweeted all that.
Hollywood singer-actor-producer-director star Barbra Streisand has something unique
about her. She has not just won an Oscar (for being a ‘Funny Girl’) she has an
internet phenomenon named after her. It’s called the ‘Streisand effect’. Briefly: “The
Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide or remove a piece
of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information
more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet”. When Streisand
attempted to suppress pictures of her mansion being put out, her protests
brought about even more attention to her bungalow which otherwise would have
been ignored. Isn’t BD just like that? When BD tried to suppress and sue
Chaitanya Kunte over his blog titled “Shoddy journalism” about her 26/11
reporting she made him and his blog all the more famous. She also earned the
contempt of a huge population on the net for trying to suppress Kunte’s free
speech. She initially tried the same with Open Magazine when they broke the Radiatapes but didn’t have the stuff to
take any legal action.
Vinod Mehta’s
Outlook magazine too had published the tapes. Mehta, therefore, appears to have
permanently earned the ire of BD. Er… sort of a “Rift” between two staunch
Congress supporters. Not that VM gives a
damn. It all started with a tweet, on February 13, from one @AnkushJain100 (who has since deleted
his Twitter account). That tweet took the fancy of Lalit Modi, the former IPL guy, who retweeted it. And that was
enough to send Barkha into her black cloak and collar and threaten the people
involved of being “liable to a libel
case” (liable to libel - rhymes well, doesn’t it?).
Hmm! Now, what were these guys talking about? I had
no idea at all. There was another retweet from Lalit Modi which linked the
problem that started it all. This tweet finally brought me to Vinod Mehta’s
memoirs titled “Lucknow Boy”. Although
many have said it’s a very sweet book and story about a boy, I had absolutely
no plans of reading VM’s book. But trust BD to be stupid enough to force me to
read at least one paragraph from that book. That’s the Streisand Effect! And
this is the damning paragraph
that was at the heart of the problem. This is nothing new and has been on the
internet since VM published his book. So what exactly was BD yakking about?
If you read Ankush’s tweet carefully, all he
suggests is that Arun Jaitley
colluded with Barkha Dutt. It’s a valid allegation, not libel. The
self-righteous BD then started chastising Lalit Modi over what she calls “utterly irresponsible and scurrilous attacks on a senior BJP
leader”. Haha! Imagine, media celebs often known to make many an
irresponsible statement on political leaders, especially of the BJP, are
suddenly worried about statements on Arun Jaitley. Ahem! I guess it must be the
influence of Valentine season which spreads love and affection all over. I hope
Jaitley calls her up and thanks her profusely for rushing to his aid. Anyway,
if at all there is really an injured party here it is Arun Jaitley and not BD.
So why the hell is BD threatening libel cases? And is there really libel or
defamation here? Ankush and others were referring to and quoting something VM
has written and published. VM is a man with years of experience in the media to
know a lot of behind-the-scenes titbits. His book or that paragraph is neither
banned nor under any court order. No court has declared it defamatory. There is
absolutely nothing wrong in quoting VM. And
as long as Jaitley or BD have not denied VM’s story, rejected it or challenged
him in a court of law there is no reason to disbelieve what VM has said.
Let’s talk legal. Please do note carefully that VM
says BD “pleaded” with Jaitley not
to mention the Radia intercepts in his attack on the govt. BD, whose Twitter
profile also says “wannabe lawyer”,
pleaded with Jaitley. (Oh… some lawyers were also referred to as pleaders, weren’t
they?). Why was she pleading with him? Any answers? VM says Jaitley was on the
“verge of”. So did Jaitley avoid mentioning the Radia-conversations because of
BD’s pleading? If yes, then Jaitley does
have a lot to answer for. Consequently, the BJP has a lot to answer for
because Jaitley holds a top position in the party and the parliament.
This habit of threatening others, especially those
who are helpless, usually comes from arrogant people who do not possess the
guts to take on those in power. They suck up to them or fear a backlash and
prey on those who cannot hit back or don’t have the time and resources to
engage in a legal battle. BD didn’t have the guts to take on those who exposed
her in the Radiatapes originally like she first threatened them. She doesn’t
have the guts to take on Vinod Mehta. In trouble, she begs and pleads with Arun
Jaitley. Why does she get so worked up and riled? It has an explanation in this
oldie from Elton John (3.48mins).
There! That’s the reason: Well maybe it was childish, foolish, before-schoolish,
immaturish, lose your coolish. Ego!
