Whatever be the crisis, you can trust the Internet to make light of it – even if the joke is about your wallet.
The Indian rupee took yet another big plunge on March 18, breaching the 92-per-dollar mark for the first time to close at Rs 92.63 (provisional), with an intraday low of Rs 92.65.
While pundits cited elevated global crude oil prices and ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia, the keyboard warriors demolished the pall of gloom by taking aim at the crisis with humour as the weapon and the Narendra Modi government as the target.
“The Man Who Mocked Rupee Depreciation In 2013 Has Since Depreciated It By 59%. Consistency,” wrote one user on X, topping it up with an applause emoji.
Many old Modi declarations were snapshotted and re-shared and quips and jokes flew as fast as US fighter jets flying at Iran.
A particular weapon of choice was then chief minister of Gujarat Modi’s mocking of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with sharply worded remarks, stating that there was a competition between the failing rupee and the then-sinking government, and which would go down faster.
BJP leaders were singled out as prime targets.
One user referred to BJP MP from Bengaluru Tejasvi Surya’s 2013 post: “Rupee was 63 when I set out on my morning walk. It’s almost 64 during breakfast. Don’t know what it will hit by lunch time!”
One quip-mesister re-shared it on Thursday, adding: “just woke up to see it's 93 now” and tagging Surya’s X handle for good measure.
Another user rubbed it in: “When Rupee was at 63, Emergency Exit Expert Tejasvi Surya was worried. When Rupee is at 93, he is trying to find ways of justifying it by calling this rise a proud moment for the nation.”
Another sarcastically compared the rupee numerical as if it were an FM station, ‘93.30. Aaisa lag raha hai jaise Rupee nahi koi FM station hai.’ (93.30. Feels like the rupee isn’t a currency, but a radio FM station)
One user went the extra mile, inviting Dhurandhar 2 into the epic battle of wit and humour. The post started with a tone of sober reflection and then delivered the twist: “The rupee is at an all-time low, the stock market is tumbling, and LPG is in short supply, but let’s queue up for Dhurandhar 2. After all, distraction works better than accountability, and propaganda will do the rest.’
To which another replied: ‘Matlab jeena chod deve log? din bhar rote hi rahe baith kr’ (So, we should stop living and cry all-day long?’
A user posted another video where NRIs are seen applauding and chanting “Modi, Modi” To be fair, the diaspora does gain in terms of their remittances becoming even more precious for their kith and kin in India.