Javed Akhtar, I am sure, lost several fans last night. When the acclaimed poet-writer blamed the low literacy levels of wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and cricketer Virender Sehwag for their comments against Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, he not only derided their thinking capability, but that of the millions of other Indians who, unlike Akhtar, were not fortunate enough to be born into a family of scholars.
The rest of Akhtar's fans may pin his remarks on the human impulse that seems to drive most social media posts these days, but the writer may want to remind himself that in a developing country like India, education is still a privilege.
The illiterate people in the country, a massive 27 per cent of the population, have not remained so out of choice. Education, after all, is still the only means to a successful life for a majority of Indians and to drop out of school or college voluntarily, if done at all, comes with a fear of economic challenges, uncertain future, and — as proven by Akhtar himself — social ridicule.
Was it a momentary lapse of judgement that made a person like Akhtar, who is known for his emotional intensity and intellectual depth, equate literacy with wisdom, maturity and intelligence? Here is the tweet that the Bollywood scriptwriter had posted, and was criticised for by many, including filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar:
If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr its understandable but whats wrong with some educated folks
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) February 28, 2017
The tweet would come as a surprise for many, since it was the poet himself who, as one half of the scriptwriter pair of Salim-Javed, etched such powerful-and-sharp characters in his films as Basanti in Sholay and Mala in Zanjeer.
Hema Malini as the rural tangewali in Sholay, Jaya Bhaduri as the street performer in Zanjeer and Neetu Singh as the trinket seller in Kaala Patthar played women from the lower economic strata of the society who were confident, street smart and yes, barely literate.
For Akhtar to dismiss the views expressed by Dutt and Sehwag because they are "hardly literate" exposes him as a man who has lost touch with the means of the masses.
By scoffing at the two international players, Akhtar, a Padma Bhushan recipient, has made light of their achievements and endorsed the stereotype that makes us discourage children from pursuing sports as a career.
Both Dutt and Sehwag are Padma Shri recipients, and while Dutt was also conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Sehwag is an Arjuna Award winner. That their success should be negated because they don't conform to the appearance of the educated elite says more about Akhtar's lack of empathy towards the Indian middle class than the limited intellect that he thinks the players possess.
Besides the commonly held view that sportspersons are not educated, the scriptwriter's tweet also exposes another stereotype that runs deep in the minds of most Indians — that those not proficient in spoken English are "barely literate".
Someone perhaps needs to inform Akhtar that Dutt's parents as well as his grandfather were teachers, and that the wrestler— just like Sehwag — is a graduate.
