A high, and a new low: Aryan’s arrest to topple icons?

By Nalin Verma

On October 30, a visibly crestfallen Aryan Khan walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail. Then, on Saturday, the Bombay High Court declared that there was no prima facie evidence supporting the NCB’s claim that Aryan was part of any ‘conspiracy’. Even being released on bail, however, could not have happened without a herculean effort by his team of capable lawyers. And many wondered, some in private, some aloud, if the punishment fit the crime. Aryan was simply on his way to a party and no drugs were actually found on him. Or does this misplaced piety contain undertones of something far more sinister- the destruction of icons who don’t fit the idea of this new, Hindutva India, awash with the new wave of Victorian prudishness.

The new, supposed puritanicalism comes with a distinctly saffron tinge and is heavily dependent on how the subject figures in the larger, political scheme of things. For instance, a decidedly crass display by another name from Bollywood has not just gone unnoticed, it has received considerable support among the BJP-RSS cadres. For in this case, Kangana Ranaut’s cringeworthy description of India’s independence in 1947 as ‘bheekh’ (alms) did, after all, end with describing the current Prime Minister as the true bringer of freedom. Those who truly believe in a progressive ‘idea of India’ are clamouring for her Padmashree to be withdrawn. Still, her remarks fit in with the saffron party line - to replace the ‘icons’ with the ones suited to the “New India” they are building.

Returning to Aryan, however. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) charged Aryan, his friends Arbaaz and Munmun under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, on the basis of ‘evidence’ that they were in cahoots with an international drug cartel. After nearly a month in prison, the Mumbai High Court released them on bail. On paper, this is a serious crime. It does not, however, stand up to scrutiny. There was no reason for Aryan and his friends to be detained at all, for the NCB is still to produce concrete proof of this alleged connection to drug traffickers.

No doubt, they were at a rave, which by Indian law, is illegal. However, Aryan and his friends weren’t doing things that so many others before them haven’t done. The pursuit of ‘recreation’ and having a good time has always been a part of young people’s lives. Aryan can find his ilk even among top Indian leaders, cutting across party lines, the ruling party included. What’s different between now and then is that this strong sense of moral judgment has become a part of mainstream politics.

Aryan has parallels in Lalu, Lamuni, Shivanand

Who can dispute the ‘Indianness’ of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bihar’s political strongman? He is known for his rootedness to Indian culture and ethos, for celebrating Diwali, Holi and Chhath puja with gusto. It is also a fact that he once apprehensively admitted to JP Narayan, his iconic mentor, that he “drinks toddy at times” because of his “village background where toddy drinking is common.” At the time, Yadav, then in college and a student activist, was President of the Patna University Students’ Union. He was spearheading the students’ stir under the tutelage of Jayaprakash Narayan in the early 1970s. The complaint about his drinking was made by his rivals, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, both of whom are senior BJP parliamentarians.

In Yadav’s memoir, Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey, which I co-wrote with him, he recalls his nervousness at being put on the mat before his mentor. He confessed, “Babuji, I drink toddy at times because I am from a village background where toddy drinking is common.” Seized in part by a zeal to confess and perhaps also to deflect blame from himself, Lalu ratted on his close friend and fellow-activist, Shivanand Tiwari, saying, “Everyone knows that Shivanand smokes ganja (marijuana).” JP calmed down and gently said, “You are a young leader. People look up to you and harbour hopes of you. Drinking and smoking are not good for your health.” That’s all. The great JP didn’t accuse his protege of committing a “crime” and didn’t rain judicial or police action down upon him. It is also a fact that Tiwari, who has since emerged as a tall socialist leader in Indian politics, has never been coy about his recreational hobbies.

The BJP has also had its share of leaders who smoked marijuana and drank bhaang in their youth but rose to great heights in their political spheres. Lalmuni Choubey, a fivetime MP from Buxar in Bihar, had confessed, in a report in The Telegraph (published November 4, 2009), to missing hi