After being put through the winger for three days in a row, actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau today after she reportedly confessed to having consumed weed(a generic term for marijuana). The arrest comes days after her brother Showik Chakraborty was rounded up in connection with peddling and consumption of proscribed drugs.

While Rhea, Showik and others arrested in the high-profile drug angle into the Sushant Singh Rajput death case have reportedly confessed to having taken weed(marijuana) and other drugs, it appears that many journalists, especially those working at ThePrint, also seemed to be whacked out on top quality weed, as evidenced by the articles churned out by the Shekhar Gupta owned media outlet.

However, right at the outset, we would like to clarify that our assertion that journalists at ThePrint are intoxicated on high-quality weed is purely figurative, lest the Narcotics Control Bureau storms their office, and tests the employees working with the organisation. Our presumption that ThePrint journalists are under the influence of weed is entirely based on the cringe-worthy analysis that has become a hallmark of articles produced on the portal.

If it were not for intoxication caused by the high-quality weed, why would have the Print published an article comparing wildly disparate incidents of outrages to allege that BJP IT cell is cannabilising its own leaders?

The article drew a somewhat ludicrous analogy between the online backlash faced by the two BJP leaders, who, according to the author, were subjected to ridicule and criticism by the “BJP IT Cell” for standing up for the cause they believed in.

The article contended that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is being attacked by the BJP IT cell members in a much the similar way like the former EAM Sushma Swaraj had been ridiculed online for her decision to grant a passport to an interfaith couple in 2018.

Subramanian Swamy had alleged that he is being trolled online on social media platforms by the BJP IT cell members because he has spoken in support of the postponement of the JEE-NEET examination, which is at variance with the government’s stand. The Print article suggests that BJP IT cell members have been attacking Swamy at Amit Malviya’s bidding.

Preposterous equivalence between online criticism of Subramanian Swamy and Sushma Swaraj

Drawing an equivalence with the criticism the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj received from netizens in connection with the interfaith couple passport row in 2018. The matter pertains to an interfaith couple who was allegedly moral policed by a passport officer in Lucknow. One Tanvi Anas accused passport officer of speaking to her rudely and holding her and her Muslim husband’s passports on hold for not having changed her name after marriage.

Anas had then taken to Twitter, tagging Sushma Swaraj and recounting in detail the ordeal she had to go through. After a huge social media uproar, the couple were issued passports in haste, overlooking many necessary procedures, and the concerned passport officer, Vikas Mishra, was transferred to Gorakhpur.

The passport officer defended his conduct, claiming that Tanvi’s name as per nikahnama (Islamic marriage contract) was ‘Shadia Anas’, but she refused to get her name changed as per her nikahnama. This was one of the discrepancies that were highlighted by Mishra in refusing to grant the couple passports.

However, despite a raft of discrepancies in their papers, a passport was issued to the couple, and many other prerequisites like police verification were bypassed. It is for these reasons that Sushma Swaraj was subjected to trolling on social media platforms. She was criticised, not by the IT cell members, but by common people, who were incensed with a minister flouting rules in her rush to grant the woman a passport out of turn.

The difference between the criticism meted out to the two BJP leaders is manifestly profound. But for one to discern that difference, it is important to remain sober and level-headed. However, a good-quality weed, coupled with the inveterate habit of remaining perpetually high on Modi hatred, essentially devoids one of sobriety and robs him/her of sanity. Only the weed of the finest breed would lead one to believe that the BJP is cutting its own leaders to size.

Rajnath Singh trolled over his anodyne tweet invoking Kashmiriyat in the aftermath of a terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims

The article goes on to mention the trolling that India’s current Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had to endure after he posted an anodyne tweet in the aftermath of an attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir. Singh had tweeted that the fact that the people of Kashmir had condemned the attack on Amarnath pilgrim reflects that the spirit of Kashmiriyat is still alive.

Naturally, the invocation of an imaginary construct such as Kashmiriyat did not sit well with an overwhelming number of people on Twitter, for the hollowness of the concept as well as the timing of the tweet when people were seething with rage over the dastardly attack against the Amarnath pilgrims. The social media users slammed Singh for his placatory tweet when the need of the hour was eliminating the terrorists responsible for the attack.

However, amusingly enough, The Print characterised the online trolling of Singh as a measure ordered by the top brass of the BJP against its own then Home Minister.

Article published in ThePrint insulted Sushant Singh Rajput’s family and Bihari culture

But this is not the only instance which reflects that the folks at The Print are possibly under the influence of cannabis. A few days ago, The Print had published an article titled as “Sushant Singh Rajput and the burden of being a ‘Shravan Kumar’ in toxic Bihari families” in which Sushant’s family – especially his seventy years plus ailing father whose only dying desire is to seek justice for his young son’s suspicious death – was bashed for filing an FIR against Rhea Chaturvedi.

In one of the finest example of toxic journalism, the said article sought to demean the Bihari culture and insult the grieving family by downplaying their grief as “toxic family structure”. Denigrating Sushant Singh Rajput’s family, the article said that “the way Sushant’s family has reacted says a lot about the burden of being a son in a Bihari family”. The article claimed further, “What has escaped popular attention is the toxic family structure of cow-belt India, especially Bihar, and how it treats its precious sons”.

Instead of blaming the culprits, incidentally, those who are now under arrest for illegal possession and consumption of drugs, the article proceeded to tarnish Sushant Singh Rajput’s family for seeking justice for their son who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his Mumbai’s flat.

In this case, too, the sheer depravity of the logic and reasoning peddled in the article degrading the Bihari culture suggested that the folks at the Print are living in a self-induced trance, purposefully losing contact with the external reality to freely peddle their propaganda. The level of absurdity that The Print has come to be associated with is only possible when one has taken the leave of his or her good senses. So, if it’s not weed, then what are the folks at The Print been smoking?