Dear Arvind Kejriwal, Your ‘Thulla’ Comment isn’t Cool; Here’s Why
Arvind Kejriwal referred to police officers as ‘thulla’ – and ticked off a few people.
What do we mean when we say we love India? For many of us, it isn’t a love for its people, animals, diversity, or richness; it is merely a sense of possessiveness for its territorial boundaries.
Unfortunately, this strange sense of love for the land is reflected in our policies, our language – both colloquial and official – and in our social media gaffes.
Politicians fall unwittingly in this last ambit of gaffes and end up saying things like this:
Thulla is a colloquial term used to describe a man with a large gut. This was in context of his government not being able to function efficiently due to Union Government’s unimpeachable power over the Police.
Constable Ajay Kumar Taneja didn’t take the comment lightly; he moved the High Court claiming that he was “mentally hurt” by the loose statement. Kejriwal has been summoned by the court where he needs to explain himself.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, #thulla trends with a national resonance, churning out absolute gems like these:
On one hand, we reduce our police force to offensive names and, on the other, we valorise them as larger than life saviours, machos, and heroes in our nonsensical masala films. Here are some examples of real-life policemen versus reel-life situations.
Dhoom for Bachchan and None for the Real Guys?
The Reel Ones Get to Maintain Abs, the Real Ones...Not So Much!
Because NO Police Story Can End Without a Mithun Da Sequence!
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