The recent Ranvir Shorey drama that panned out on twitter, saw quite a few RWs jump in to protect a beloved actor from the evil AAPtards (Ranvir’s terminology not mine).
OpIndia jumped to do a story on this episode. It can be read here:
Actor Ranvir Shorey attacks AAP for inaction against the corrupt, gets attacked in return
As an OpIndia reader and a Hindu RW, Ranvir’s behavior or that of his abusers, did not surprise me. I truly believe that most liberals are opportunists and Ranvir just chose to attack AAP at it’s weak moment, as many deserters tend to do. To me it was a lassic case of ‘ बहती गंगा में हाथ धोना। ‘
It would be interesting to note, in his tweet citied below and many others he has accepted that he had joined AAP when it was a rising movement. And justifiably, AAP’s performance and Kejriwal’s antics have made him rethink.
How to tell these brainwashed kids that I had the same hope from AAP, before it turned into one man's hunger for power.
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) March 14, 2017
He has been a critic of AAP for a while now. So I am not saying he jumped sides now.
Even some hardcore Modi supporters are political commentors now thanks to their interest piqued because of the IAC movement and got disillusioned by Kejriwal, and more importantly, realized his dubious nature to turn around and support Modi ji instead.
Here’s an example:
Feelings of many of us, who were early IAC supporters. https://t.co/ELz1x9C8wt
— हम भारत के लोग (@India_Policy) March 14, 2017
So anyone, even Ranvir Shorey, changing his opinion and becoming one of RW may not be a surprise. But is this really a case of enemy’s enemy is a friend as many seem to believe? Or to put it differently… has he become a bhakt?
His tweets show… it’s far from it.
As one of the tweets cited in the OpIndia article above shows, he was a staunch critic of RW and didn’t shy away either from name-calling or using labels back in Jan 2014:
#TwitterTaughtMe:#Congress supporters: Sly & cunning.#BJP supporters: Vicious bigots.#AAP supporters: Over idealistic, gullible fools.
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) January 4, 2014
If this was from the initial days of AAP, his opinion of RW has not changed over the time as can be seen form this 2016 tweet:
Ah, the joy of human interaction on #Twitter. If radical right wingers can be called human, that is..
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) September 3, 2016
Or this very recent tweet where he criticizes the AAP supporters by saying they are like ‘bhakts’. A term derogatorily used by the left-liberals for the Indian Hindu RW and BJP supporters:
Wow. Impressive AAPtard presence on Twitter now. Almost matching up to the bhakts. Clearly AAP is heading to be our 2nd largest party.
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) March 14, 2017
These tweets show that Ranvir, though now is questioning AAP and is being attacked by AAP supporters for the same, has not jumped sides. He still is an abusive critic of RW.
One can argue that he is neither Right nor left in his ideology and hence can be a genuine critic of both side. He dispels any doubts we may have in this case… with his this tweet from March 10th:
Maybe Indian Left-Libtards can now pause for some introspection, hmmm? People can differentiate between hollow lofty ideals and real issues.
— Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) March 11, 2017
BJP’s recent performance in UP, as well as AAP being drummed in Goa and Punjab, has made him act like a typical liberal and he wants to be sure he is not perceived as anti-RW. Hence this tokenism now.
He even made a few congratulatory tweets to the PM and BJP party commander-in chief Amit Shah.
Going by the OpIndia article, one would be tempted to sympathize with Ranvir as the AAP suppoters attack him on social media, but as one of RW’s very popular handle has put it… mongrels do not change loyalties:
https://twitter.com/IndiaSpeaksPR/status/841827128945610755
I not only share IndiaSpeaksPR’s skepticism, I would go ahead and say, leopard don’t change spots. So we should be careful who we RWers expend our energy and writing space for.
I would not mind being proven wrong. Ranvir, despite his opposing ideology, comes across as an intelligent guy in his tweets. Unlike our average AAP supporters or Bollywood intellectuals. So having him on our side would be an asset. But as shown by his tweets, he seems to be just making hay while the sun is shining. So we RW would do better to be cautious when supporting such liberals.
Time will tell if Ranvir has truly course-corrected or not. If he has, then we can say… “AAP देर आये, पर दुरुस्त आये।”
