When Jawaharlal Nehru University was being planned, ‘the most detailed advice came from Dr Douglas Ensminger of the Ford Foundation in Delhi’, says Gyan Prakash, the author of a series of history of JNU books. They have wondered how it became a Left bastion; nevertheless, dismantling it before renaming it was an easy option and co-opting faculty and masked gang’s muscle power came in handy.

Remember Kanhaiya Kumar, a JNU student union president who was arrested by the Delhi Police in February 2016, over ‘sedition’ at a campus event? Remember he fought a stalwart like Giriraj Singh and said, ‘I got support from the people for fighting against a big, rich and influential machinery and this is a message from democracy that a son of an Anganwadi worker can contest elections’. He comes from a village called Bihat, near Barauni in Begusarai district of Bihar.

Recall the dialogue in Tandav. From Samar Saif, ‘Bihari hai, gene mein politics hai’ and his wisecrack to Shiva Zeeshan, ‘You need politics’. Also don’t forget, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, as a student played Lord Siva in a political satire staged by JNU students a few years ago.

Now you know why I have been talking of JNU when I am supposed to discuss Tandav. Elections in Bihar are done with. Now let me remind you of Aishe Ghosh and her masked attackers. Another student union president, and a Left Bengali at that from Durgapur, daughter of a CITU worker. And don’t forget Bengal is an election State, where the Left and Congress are certainly advantage Trinamool, rather than to anyone else. In Tandav, the camouflages are so blatantly diaphanous – JNU becomes VNU types – it is not funny and leaves little to conjecture.

Doesn’t Dimple Kapadia masterfully assay a Sonia? Though Sanjay and Indira names are thrown in, why do you think only the ruling BJP’s loyal henchme and Karni Senas are protesting? It’s a ‘big, rich and influential machinery’, and yet out of depth with Bollywood’s creative licences.

There is not even a few seconds of scene involving any religious deity in this 9-episode OTT serial. The only symbol is a Trishul, a trident. It is not only Lord Siva’s, my grandfather also had one. If showing use of trident as party symbol in a film set is objectionable, imagine, how many objections can be raised if a real party uses the lotus, Vishnu-Lakhsmi’s symbol.

As we know, anything supposed to be ‘hurting religious sentiments’ can be stopped by court order. But if you say, ‘it hurts political sentiments’, no one pays any attention. So, to stop Tandav showing, the public posture has to be, ‘it hurts religious sentiments’.

It is to protect their politics that the right-wing, especially in the States with MLAs and MPs from the ruling party at the Centre, and judiciary have been able to move courts and police, invoking false allegation of ‘hurting religious sentiments’.

Tandav is only fiction acted out. Why does this alarm the ruling political dispensation? Fifty per cent of the show is about student politics in a particular university, thinly disguised. So, what’s in a name? Every second son in India is called Krishna, Kanhaiya, Shiva, Shivam, how can this be particularly targeted at any religion? If there is any religious problem at all, it is that the resistance is coming from the Shivas, the Mamatas, the Mahuas, the Kamalahaasans, the Tejashwis, the Kanimozhis and Kanhaiyas.

The series shows young characters like Shiva, Sana, protesting – that they are shown daring to oppose – it sets a bad political precedence. And then, their agitations begin with land acquisition, like Nandigram, farmer’s protests, like it is happening now. All this provides fuel to anti-establishment politics and the ruling party looks at itself as establishment for the next ten years. It cannot digest being told that Vivekanada and Vande Maataram is not only theirs.

Added to the rising gall is the fact that Zeeshan, Saif Ali Khan are consummate actors. The issue is, how can a Khan be allowed to wear a dhoti in a traditional way and a sacred thread? How can an Ayyub act a Shiva? The political convenience is to ignore the fact that Saif is Sharmila Tagore’s son, half Hindu, a member of the Tagore clan, half Bengali. The director of the show, Ali Abbas Zafar, is a pahadi from Dheradoon. What’s in a name, did we say? Plenty as you can see. How can all these politically seductive scenes and dialogues be allowed to play out in public platforms? They need to be stopped. So the canard: They are created and delivered by you know who.

Add Mirzapur to the boiling pot of obfuscation. ‘It depicts a UP district badly.’ Why didn’t anyone object to Mirzapur 1? All that this has is some very bad language. There is no ‘religion’ in this series either. No gods, only devils, though this one rolls off the pens of Krishnas and Singhs. Jolly LLB, both the films, have more gods ridiculed, but that is Akshay Kumar and Saurabh Shukla. And as names go, what about offending the goddess with Lakshmi Bomb?

Just remember, before important elections, even the powerful need to create ‘bawaal’, a word that means commotion. So, since the farmers are not budging, it is Tandav and Mirzapur; need something to froth the political ferment. (IPA Service)