The controversial environmentalist and gyan-giver Sadhguru was invited on Trevor Noah’s popular The Daily Show earlier this week.
All hell broke loose as trolls savagely attacked Sadhguru , for being who he is, and Noah ,for not consulting left-wingers before inviting the environmentalist, calling Sadhguru Islamophobic among other things.Someone barked at poor Noah for not doing his homework before inviting Sadhguru. An Indian standup comic even asked Noah why he had invited “this excuse of a human being.” Ouch.
Which is really strange. Since when do talkshow hosts need public endorsements before being invited on television? Pardon me if I am wrong. But even Osama bin Laden has done chat shows. I’ve seen extremists , suspected leaders of terrorist organizations, serial killers and anti-establishment rabble-rousers holding forth with celebrity chat-show hosts and the studio audience clapping rather than denouncing the denigrator.
This other day I saw some prominent musicians clapping and cheering comedian Jamie Lever as she made savage fun of iconic singer Asha Bhosle.
What is so unforgivably improper about inviting Sadhguru to talk about the environment? I have no empathy for his politics nor have I heard him speak in public. But on Trevor Noah’s show Sadhguru came across as clear-headed, rational and opportune.
He had been invited to speak on the environment, on the ‘Save Soil Movement’. No politics was discussed during the conversation.Sadhguru patiently and lucidly explained the irreversible damage being done to the environment by plunderers and politicians. He told Noah he has written to 730 political parties to include soil and ecology in political manifestos.
“This is not a doomsday prophecy.It’s a wakeup call,” Sadhguru urged civilization to wake up and smell the Qafir.The true non-believer, the Qafir ,is the one who continues to plunder and destroy the environment for the sake of commercial benefits.
Forget Islamophobia, it is Environmentphobia that we need to fear.
In fact Sadhguru showed Indians on Trevor Noah’s show how to represent the country with pride and without prejudice.He was persuasive but never political, charming but never a walkover.And yes, he didn’t put in an American accent, like most Indian celebrities do on American chat shows.
Was Priyanka Chopra Jonas listening?