Unfunny digs at the Indian nation

last updated 8 January 2015

Comedian Jay Leno has insulted the Sikh religion, said Prabh Singh in SikhSiyasatâ€‹.net. In a throwaway joke last week on his NBC show, Leno showed a photo of the Golden Temple of Amritsar, “the holiest of holy places” for Sikhs, and announced to the world that it was the summer home of Republican Party hopeful Mitt Romney. Indian officials immediately condemned the sorry attempt at humor. Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi called Leno’s comments “quite objectionable” and said “freedom does not mean hurting the sentiments of others.” The Indian government even asked the ambassador to take up the matter with the U.S. State Department. But Sikhs are still smarting. Thousands have signed an online petition demanding an apology for the “infamous” mockery of a sacred shrine.

As if that weren’t enough, now the U.S. vice president has insulted Indians, said Chidanand Rajghatta in the New Delhi Times of India. During a speech at a manufacturing plant in New Hampshire last week, Joe Biden “slipped into an Indian accent” while speaking about U.S. job losses to call centers abroad. He quickly stopped himself, though, “perhaps aware of the kerfuffle he had caused some months back” when he was caught on a mike saying, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” So far, though, the Indian government has not “registered any protest against Biden’s accented offense.”

Unfortunately, it’s probably just a matter of time before it does, said the New Delhi Indian Express in an editorial. The Indian government seems to be “waging a diplomatic war on humorists.” The overreaction to Leno’s joke follows a similarly overwrought protest by the Indian Embassy in Britain about an episode of the BBC car show Top Gear that made fun of Indian toilets. It’s bad enough, of course, that various groups in India are so quick to take offense at perceived slights by Westerners. Even worse, though, is “the alacrity with which politicians and government officials heed the squeals of protest.” By pandering to the touchiest among us, Indian officials are endorsing the idea that some things should simply not be allowed to be said. That’s a reflection of the government’s mounting “desire to control free speech.”