A ruling party spokesman has suggested that Rahul Gandhi should consider becoming a stand up comedian.

I am sure it was meant as an insult.

But it may have accidentally become the finest compliment the party has paid him.

After all, a stand up comedian became President of Ukraine and has spent years standing up to a superpower trying to bully his country. Volodymyr Zelensky did not stop being courageous because he once made people laugh. In fact, his ability to communicate may have helped him rally a nation when bombs began falling.

Perhaps the spokesman should have checked the job prospects of comedians before offering Rahul career advice.

In earlier times, comedians were found in royal courts. They were called jesters or the king’s fools. They wore ridiculous clothes, made strange faces and said things nobody else dared to say.

The ministers praised the king.

The courtiers applauded the king.

The generals saluted the king.

Only the fool told the king that his crown was crooked.

That required courage. It also required intelligence, because the joke had to reach the king’s mind without causing the comedian’s head to leave his shoulders.

A good comedian does more than make people laugh.

He makes them think.

He holds up a mirror and allows the powerful to see themselves as others see them. Sometimes the reflection is so uncomfortable that the mirror is blamed.

The thing about humour is that it travels where speeches cannot. A joke slips past barricades, ignores television anchors and enters the mind before the guards can demand its credentials. By the time authority understands what happened, the audience has laughed, understood truth and carried it home. No wonder people look nervous when ordinary citizens begin smiling.

Perhaps that is the real problem.

Those who follow orders blindly are considered loyal. Those who ask questions are called disruptive. Those who applaud are patriots. Those who laugh at the absurdity of power are suddenly dangerous.

“Why are you laughing?” demands the ruler.

“Because your crown is slipping,” says the comedian.

“Arrest him!” shouts the ruler.

We certainly need more stand up comedians in India. We need millions of them. We need citizens who can stand up and point out that a pothole does not become a swimming pool merely because a minister inaugurates it.

We need students who can laugh when an examination paper leaks before the water supply arrives.

We need voters who can smile politely when told that unemployment is actually extended leisure.

Most of all, we need people who can recognise the biggest joke of all, that democracy means remaining silent before those we elected.

So, Rahul, accept the compliment.

Stand up.

Speak.

Use wit, facts and intelligence.

And let millions become comedians with you.

Because when citizens stop laughing at foolishness, they may soon be forced to applaud it..!

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