Amitabh Bachchan has lashed out at media outlets for misconstruing his devotional chant of ‘Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki’ as a confrontational challenge, decrying the act as disrespectful to faith and a failure in journalistic responsibility.
Amitabh Bachchan Criticises Media Misinterpretation
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has criticised sections of the media for allegedly misinterpreting his religious invocation, “Hathi Ghoda Palki, Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki”, and portraying it as a challenge to his opponents. In his post on social media, Big B expressed displeasure over a media report that interpreted his devotional chant as a message directed at his opponents, with the headline suggesting that he had challenged them by saying, “Bring your elephants and horses.” Calling the interpretation disrespectful to religious sentiments, the actor said the chant was an invocation dedicated to Lord Krishna and should not have been twisted to create a narrative about confrontation.
“For Krishna Kanhaiya, in the form of prayer, he often chants -” Hathi ghoda palki, Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki ” Aur media uska niradar karke, apna prachar karne ke liye chapta hai ‘dekhiye yeh Amitabh apne vorofhyon ko chunautiu de raha hai, ki, ‘le aao haathi ghoda ‘hum apane hathiyar se ladenge, darenge nahi’..ek to ghor ninda ek ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ ke uplakshya mein, aur dusra , shabdon ko palat kar vorodhiyo n ko chunauti dene ki baat kar rahe hai” (And the media, by disrespecting it, prints it for their own publicity, ‘Look, Amitabh is challenging his opponents, saying, ‘Bring your elephants and horses’—we will fight with our weapons, we won’t be afraid!’ On one hand, it’s a grave insult to a ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ invocation, and on the other, they’re twisting the words to make it about challenging opponents. ..),” Big B wrote on X.
Media Responsibility and Accountability
He also questioned the media’s responsibility, referring to the press as the fourth pillar of democracy and criticising what he described as the conduct of sections of the media. In his post, the veteran star further referred to his 50-million-strong follower base, claiming that a section of them was ready to respond if called upon. He added that repeated misinterpretation of his words would only strengthen their resolve. “Listen up, media folks, with your ears wide open. .. We have a 50 million-strong follower base, media folks. The day we give the signal, just 10 percent of them are ready and waiting to strike. The more you twist our words and condemn them, the 100 times greater capacity our Ef has lying in wait to do the same. … It’s just a matter of them speaking up. .. Here’s what the media prints, take a look: “Amitabh Bachchan takes a dig at opponents’ threats, vents frustration with cryptic post—’Go, bring your elephants and horses’ News18 Hindi ” See that, folks—disrespecting faith, and absurd (Betuka) – Absurd, nonsensical, or silly. ridiculous (Hasyaspad) – Ridiculous or laughable (invoking derision). Incongruous..These are the ones considered the country’s 5th Column—and the 4 columns are revered in our traditions with honor and respect. .. It’s called a fifth because they are honored by the citizens, granted a status of respect in society!! Honor??? Nothing could be more laughable than this…,” he added.
The actor also said that while people should acknowledge their mistakes and apologise when they go wrong, the same accountability appeared to be missing in the media’s conduct. Concluding his post, Bachchan said he had initially intended to express his feelings as someone hurt by the coverage but decided against doing so, stating that his pain was personal and not something he wished to share with the media. “If we make a mistake—mistakes happen—we immediately apologize and try to make amends..But here it seems like this is their birthright…I was about to say, as a victim, with affection and love, I’m heading off to sleep..But I won’t say victim— the right to my pain is mine alone—it’s not worthy of your {media}…,” he wrote in his post.
Previous Context of the Controversy
The latest remarks come against the backdrop of his earlier blog, which many media outlets reported that Big B in his blog appeared to respond to those threatening to stop writing about him. “Kuch chhote hain, kuch bade hain, kuch sona zyada pasand karte hain! Ab dekhiye kaise iski headline banayi jaayegi! Darao mat yaar, hamare baare mein likhna band kar doge, koi samasya nahi, hamara samachar patra ab yahan chalta hai. Tum ek karoge, hum 100 karenge!” (Some are young, some are older, and some simply prefer sleeping more! Now, let us see how they come up with a headline for this! Don’t threaten me, my friend. If you stop writing about us, that’s absolutely fine. Our newspaper operates here now. You do one, and we will do a hundred!) Towards the conclusion of that blog, he had used the expression “Jao! Le aao apne haathi ghode… Hum bhi le aayenge! Haathi ghoda palki, Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki!” (Go ahead! Bring your elephants and horses… We will bring ours too! Hail Lord Krishna!). The actor’s latest post also criticised the media for what he described as a lack of accountability, saying that people should acknowledge their mistakes and apologise when they go wrong. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)