There is an element of sardonic humour in the groundswell of support that actor Sanjay Dutt has been receiving from not only his film fraternity but also from related quarters. Its not as much about the gravity of the case 'Khalnayak' Sanjubaba was involved in but how suddenly some people are discovering that the enfant terrible of Bollywood has become an acknowledged Gandhian after being bailed out in the Mumbai blasts case.
The film industry, which is punctuated by self-righteous and we-can-do-no-wrong of the Mahesh Bhatt types, has turned into a Theatre of the Absurd with Sanjubaba as the "character" actor. For that matter, the Bollywood has always behaved like an autonomous, constitutional authority immune from all liabilities. It is as if none of its players can be ever blamed for any sins of commisions or omissions. Deeply divided in their cliques inside their brotherhood, it is amazing how their ill-conceived minds become one in crunch situations. And that also goes for their clan decorating the political parties across the spectrum.
So it was hilarious to hear Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Prada set the tone saying "Knowingly or unknowingly, it has been written in his (Sanjay's) fate that he must go on suffering like this." Of course, you don't have to be a soothsayer to know whoever joins the ranks of terrorists and has the stupidity to keep toys like AK 56, pistols, cartridges and other assorted weapons -- "for self defence" -- travels one-way behind the bars. But Sanjubaba is one of a kind and can't be bracketed with other goons and crooks who keep weapons illegally.
Sanjay's sister Priya Dutt, a Congress MP herself, broke down when her well-meaning brother was handed down the reduced sentence and thereafter stories about the actor's largesse and good deeds started flying thick and fast like an orchestrated chorus. The express speed at which the film industry's learned luminaries appeared on TV debate shows and spouted their harebrained arguments in Sanjay's support could have been the script of a pulp film. Hearing them sing paens to Sanjubaba, you couldn't be blamed if you thought another Gandhi wasn't already born.
And then there are usual suspects like Digvijay Singh who have a verdict on everything under the Sun. All have declared, and in equivocal terms, that Sanjay is not a terrorist, that whatever he did was out of child-like innocence, for the betterment of the society and his hobnobbing with the terrorist elements was out of pure fun. In case you didn't know, Sanjubaba was a disciplined, studious child who did drugs just to find out how they tasted. That his father, the stern and punishing Sunil Dutt, did everything with his means to get him back on rails, was just a little kink in the tale.
I recall how Sunil Dutt once spoke to me about his errant son and was almost in tears while narrating how he staked his goodwill and reputation to get his strayed and erratic son back on the tracks, and generally, how the family suffered in the process. On the other side of the story, a senior journalist friend also told me some spell binding stories of how the dad would bash up Sanjubaba -- at times with a belt -- for not falling in line. He claimed the son showed welts and scars on his ankles and thighs after he was beaten mercilessly, all in the fond hope that he would reform. But at that juncture, Sanjubaba was beyond redemption and repair. It took something as serious as the blasts case to shook him out of his complacent stupor.
And this is what the retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Markandey Katju, who we now have the mortification of seeing as the Chairman of the toothless Press Council of India, wants to have us believe. According to Katju, Sanjay is not a terrorist, has already gone through hell, has children and has played a great role (!) in spreading Gandhian values.
Feel sorry for Sanjubaba. Neither Katju is now on the Supreme Court bench nor is Bal Thackeray alive to get him out of trouble. Maybe just as well! Even Satish Mane-Shinde, the actor's lawyer was guarded in his remarks and didn't go beyond the regulation comment on the apex court verdict, but parallel courts and their self-appointed judges are waxing eloquent on how Sanjubaba deserves a reprieve even if it means sending grossly pervert signals to the people of this country. Hopefully, the gubernatorial office, despite the powers vested in it, will not be led by politically specious arguments from vested interests and make a mockery of the highest court of the land. It will do well to remember that while commuting Sanjay's sentence, the court had clearly said Sanjay's crime was extremely serious. He had no justification to keep those weapons and when it boomeranged on him, tried to destroy evidence. No one does that out of innocence which Katju wants to thrust on Sanjubaba.
Katju is now trying to convince us 98% idiots that he is a humanitarian and has already dashed off a letter to the Governor to use his discretionary powers and pardon Sanjubaba. His action has found great support from sopokesman-turned I&B Minister Manish Tiwari. In his profound wisdom, Tiwari says: "Justice Katju has been a very eminent judge of the Supreme Court. Whenever he articulates a position on an issue, people both inside and outside the government listen to it carefully."
If you ask me, I feel sorry only for Manyata Dutt, Sanjubaba's second wife. For her, it is:
Mere saajan hai us paar, mai man maar....
