Poor Papu Pom Pom! The stand-up comedian must have thought he had left the worst behind after coming out of jail in August. A row over some comments about Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of the state, and the holy basil leaves offered to him, followed by a demand for barring his entry to Puri, burning of his effigy and – finally – registration of a case against him under various sections of the IPC for hurting the religious sentiments of people, was the last thing he would have wanted at this stage when he is slowly finding his way back into the Odia entertainment industry.
Make no mistake. The comments that have sparked off the controversy were rather tasteless and by no means funny. As an Odia - and especially as a ‘public figure’ – Papu should have known better. Given how touchy we Odias are about anything related to the Lord, the comic actor should have found something more interesting and less controversial to regale the audience with. May be he thought anything other than Lord Jagannath would be out of place in the pilgrim town.
I know questioning his relentless persecution at this stage – when the (religious) tempers are running high – is fraught with grave risks. But I would still stick my neck out to play the Devil’s Advocate and ask the following question. Isn’t the reaction to his downright cheap comments disproportionate to his ‘crime’ – especially given that he had apologized for his faux pas on the stage itself barely minutes after making them? Are we not being rather unreasonable in seeking to haul him over the coals for his ill-advised comment even after he has apologized unconditionally on TV for a second time? Will the all-forgiving Lord approve of the way he is being hounded? After all, it is nobody’s case – not even the organizations that are asking for his arrest - that Papu is an apostate, a modern day Kalapahada, is it?
I have a sneaking suspicion that the reaction against his transgressions would not have been so vociferous had it not been for the ‘casting couch’ allegation against him, which got him arrested and incarcerated for nearly two months. The questions being raised about who invited him to the concluding ceremony of the Beach Festival suggest that he is being pilloried not for what he said at the Festival but for his past ‘sins’ – which, by the way, are yet to be proved in a court of law.
Now contrast this with the eagerness with which fans – including those in Odisha - await ‘Bhoomi’, the ‘comeback’ film of ‘Munnabhai’ Sanjay Dutt after his release at the end of his five-year prison term for his role in the 1992 Mumbai blasts. Or, for that matter, the way film buffs have lapped up every film of Salman Khan, who stands accused of mowing down a pedestrian and critically injuring two others with his drunken, reckless driving. What does it tell us, if not of our double standards? We have no problems welcoming someone who has been convicted and served time in prison for something as serious as terrorism, but are unwilling to extend the same courtesy to someone who has been merely accused of something and is trying to find his way back into the entertainment industry after his jail term.
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It is also possible that Papu would have got away with his indiscretion but for his politics. Though he remains suspended from the BJD after his entanglement in the molestation case, Papu has not been able to shake off his political persona. Hence, it is likely that some political people – whether in the ruling party or outside – are gunning for him with gusto.
We Odias never tire of extolling the uniquely human attributes of the Lord and singing paeans to Him for forgiving and embracing with open arms even those who have called Him names and leveled a litany of charges against Him. But we cannot countenance an indiscretion by a comic actor, who mistakenly thought he was being funny.
Papu, I dare say, has been more sinned against than sinning.