Malayalis are having yet another field day, thanks to the internet. This time, there are four scapegoats — the three girls who happened to perform a flash mob in Malappuram as part of an AIDS awareness campaign and a Malayali Radio Jockey based in Qatar.
It all started with a flash mob, performed on the road by three hijab-clad girls in Malappuram. The three students of a dental college in Malappuram performed the dance as part of an AIDS awareness programme conducted in connection with World Aids Day.
However, the dance, when someone uploaded it, went viral for all the wrong reasons. All hell broke loose within hours with moral police trolling them and Muslim fundamentalists launching a scathing cyber attack on them. Comments filled up under the video ranged from how they will be punished after death to unsavoury remarks on their parents. The video got thousands of shares before it was finally taken off the internet.
The public took sides. Everyone had their own share of explanations and justifications. ‘Online brothers’ became over protective and fundamentalists rejoiced at the mud-slinging. Within two days, matters slowly shifted to another side of the world – to Qatar. The spotlight was on RJ Sooraj of 98.6 FM, a Malayalam radio station.
A much-loved public figure for his outspoken take on any issue, Sooraj posted a video defending the three girls. Within hours, the video got shared and Sooraj was at the receiving end of yet another round of online abuse as live videos and hashtag campaigns. There were attacks on his radio station as well. It all ended only after Sooraj posted an apology video and announced that he will be staying away from his show. His new actions started another chain of reactions with a section of people ‘accepting’ the apology and another, shaming him for being ‘spineless’.
The whole turn of events has kicked off serious discussions among all sorts of people, especially the RJ fraternity. Senior radio jockey and station head of Big FM in Thiruvananthapuram, Firoz Azeez aka Kidilam Firoz was shocked to see the comments under RJ Sooraj’s post.
“All through my 10 years with radio, no RJ was seen getting discussed to this level. It was his personal choice to comment on a matter pertaining to society. We, the radio jockeys, address a society bound by the ‘unity in diversity’ factor and in my humble opinion, we have to think at least thrice before sending our words on air. He should have said it in a way without hurting anyone. The matter became controversial when religion crept into it, which should have been avoided. His decision to apologise needs appreciation. Since him being an individual and social animal, he can continue commenting on matters in future, provided they don’t end up being provocative,” he says.
RJ Musafir of Club FM feels that one has all right to air their opinion, but could do it in a polite manner. He opines, “If all the hullabaloo is over the personal freedom of the girls who danced in Malappuram, what I feel is that right to expression is also equally important. Naturally, Sooraj has all rights to air his opinions. And everyone who disagrees has the right to do so too. However, many were seen using indecent language while commenting on the issue. That one can’t express their own opinion in a better language shows their ineptitude. Anyway, whatever controversies that break out in social media are temporary. This too, will pass.”
Speaking from Doha, the man in the eye of the storm, RJ Sooraj, however clarifies that he chose to stay away until the tempest subsided. “I did not lose my job, neither did I quit. I myself decided to stay away from the radio show after the #IhateRJSooraj campaign which went viral. If I am not needed, why must I take the effort to be there? Another reason I decided to stay away was that there were people who were capable of filing complaints and taking things legally against the firm. There were chances that it would affect the radio station and people working here could have lost their jobs.”
Sooraj is not a fulltime RJ; he works as a Research Development Manager for a company. RJing, for him, is a passion.
Quizzed how he was feeling after all that went down, he says, “I’m very ok. People who claim themselves to be the guardians of a faith turned all these into something else. But now, these same people have come out with an ‘IsupportRJSooraj’ hashtag campaign. I am on my way to upload another video this evening.”
(With inputs from Meera Manu)
