After claiming for years that news on WhatsApp wasn’t real news, some Indian journalists have begun sounding like WhatsApp forwards themselves.
Rajdeep Sardesai today appeared to hint that Deepika Padukone’s summons by the Narcotics Bureau on 25th September was somehow connected to the farmer’s protest, implying that the summons were timed to distract the nation from the protest that is supposed to take place the same day. “So @deepikapadukone summoned on September 25 by @narcoticsbureau . Farmers all India protest on Sept 25. Samajh mein aaya (Did you understand)?” he smugly asked.
One wonders if someone at Rajdeep’s age should be performing the mental gymnastics required to connect such disparate events, but the India Today journalist chose to make the bizarre accusation anyway. The internet, though, wasn’t having any of it. Soon there were a series of tweets coming up with similarly wild theories.
“NCB has summoned Deepika on Sep 25th. My dog Sheru, a staunch Modi critic, has birthday on Sep 25th too. Kuch samajhe?” wrote Twitter user The Skin Doctor. “Modi has purposely called Deepika on Sep 25 to divert attention from Sheru’s big day. This isn’t fair. Sheru is going in depression. Help : #JusticeForSheru,” he added.
The joke theories didn’t stop there. “Deepika is summoned by the NCB to appear on 25th as Modi is obsessed with number 7,” wrote Twitter user Ra_Bies. “His birthday is on 17th September which has 7 in it. Election results in 2014 (total 7) were declared on 16th May. 56 is divisible by 7 & his fav Lt Col is born on 7th July. Fascist has 7 letters,” he tweeted.
The jokes kept coming. Twitter user @coolfunnyshirt played with the numbers around the 25th September date. “Deepika summoned on 25. 2 + 5 = 7. 7 is Dhoni’s popular jersey no. CSK match also on 25. Samajh mein aaya? Nahi na? Don’t worry! Just Rajdeeyapa things!” he tweeted.
As was bound to happen, someone managed to drag PM Modi’s 56 inch chest into the mix.
The math kept getting more complicated. Twitter user @LOLiyapa brought in exponents.
And Twitter user @YearOfRat used power functions, fractions, and some mathematical wizardry to end up with 2002, which for the last two decades has been Rajdeep’s constant refrain.
It’s not the first time that Rajdeep Sardesai has become the butt of ridicule on social media, but his latest theory is a notch higher than his usual ramblings. Rajdeep appears to be fighting his growing irrelevance on TV — as per BARC data, he currently commands 6 percent of the 9 PM prime time audience, compared to Arnab Goswami’s 60 percent — with increasingly outlandish comments on social media. It did succeed though, if only to bring some comic relief in these troubled times.
