‘Good satire reforms, poor one hurts’

Kolkata, May 7 Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi used the convocation ceremony at the Rabindra Bharati University on Wednesday to hit back at the ruling CPM which made a sarcastic remark against his decision of introducing two-hour voluntary powercut at Raj Bhavan. Yesterday, Shyamal Chakrabarti, Rajya Sabha member of the CPM, had said: “The governor’s decision of introducing the powercut is a pioneering decision. But since there is a food crisis looming large, he and his staff members should have only one square meal a day. He should also walk at least 10 miles a day since we are facing an oil crisis.”

Today, the Governor retaliated and said: “You should have a good sense of humour but your criticism of others should not be of poor taste. You criticise others but don’t disrespect them. In fact we have made the job of showing disrespect to others a performing art. Satire corrects a man but a satire of low standard does not correct the man, it hurts him. Recognise the good work of others, don’t envy a man if he does something good.”

But the governor’s advice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as Chakrabarti again took a dig at the Governor. “It is good if the governor exercises penance in his personal life. But then he should follow the example of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who stays in a small flat. The governor gets a fat salary and since he has a small family he does not require that much money. Why doesn’t he contribute 75 per cent of the salary for the welfare of the poor?” he said.