Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent call for a voluntary pause on gold purchases for a year and reduced fuel consumption has sparked a wave of satire online, with stand-up comedians weaving the remarks into their latest acts.
While comedian Varun Grover touched upon the gold-buying appeal in one of his recent sets, Gaurav Gupta drew a satirical comparison between the situation and the Titanic’s ignored iceberg warning.
Urging citizens to conserve foreign exchange, the PM appealed for a one-year moratorium on buying gold.
He also called for a return to Covid-era practices such as work from home, virtual meetings and greater use of public transport to cut fuel consumption.
Reiterating his push for self-reliance, Modi urged people to prioritise “Made in India” products.
Grover, in his latest set, transformed Modi’s austerity appeal into a satirical monologue on inflation, inequality and middle-class anxieties.
Opening his set by rattling off Modi’s list of ‘don’ts’, Grover joked that Indians may soon need tattoos like Ghajini’s protagonist to remember them all.
He also took a swipe at the repeated calls for public sacrifice, remarking that Indians had already spent years “saving the nation from crisis”, before ending with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Ambanis and gold purchases.
Gupta, meanwhile, used his set to question the Prime Minister’s long list of ‘don’ts’ for the next year. Interacting with a tax officer in the audience, Gupta joked that middle-class families would rather sell than buy gold if the government revealed the actual reason behind the appeal.
He began by comparing Modi’s speech to the constant “don’ts” Indian parents tell their children, saying his father would at least explain the reason behind them. Gupta also drew a comparison with Titanic’s iceberg warning, suggesting that people fear being alerted only when the situation is already out of control.
Comedian Puneet Pania quipped that the austerity push was, in his words, another case of party interests trumping the nation’s needs.