Now MTV clones Gandhi, chips away at Mahatma

This is one MTV show you will never get to watch in India but it’s sure to upset many. Because the MTV USA, all set to beam an animated...

This is one MTV show you will never get to watch in India but it’s sure to upset many. Because the MTV USA, all set to beam an animated series Clone High USA, is introducing G-Man, a clone of Mahatma Gandhi who dangles ear-rings, digs junk food, is the ‘‘ultimate’’ party animal and goes ‘‘yo, yo man’’ as he raps.

Images of the series can be accessed on the MTV website http://www.mtv.com by clicking on Enroll at Clone High: Follow the world’s greatest leaders through high school. But the MTV sense of humour has not gone down well at home.

Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma’s grandson, has written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, asking him to ‘‘take strict measures’’ and Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, while lodging her protest, has made it known ‘‘Gandhi is so great that such pygmies who try to ridicule him will only fail.’’

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The MTV USA series is all about a group of scientists creating clones from DNA extracts of Gandhi, Buddha, Joan of Arc, J F Kennedy and Cleopatra. Ten years later, the clones gather for a high school meet and what follows is sheer misadventure.

The website also includes a Clone High Yearbook of students namely Abe Lincoln, Jesus Cristo, Moses and Catherine the Great. And they air their views in the mock school newspaper called the Tatler. Gandhi’s clone, the Associate Editor, reviews movies for the daily and American Pie is his favourite.

A spokesperson for MTV India distanced himself from the programme, saying he had no clue about it and that they were independent of MTV USA. Coming as it does in the wake of the latest edition of Maxim magazine, which ran an article headlined ‘‘Maxim’s Kick-Ass Workout’’ depicting a muscleman beating up an image of Gandhi, it’s sure to generate heat.

The three-page article had 21 different scenes of the man hitting, kicking, choking and tossing Gandhi who is clearly mentioned in the text. Added to this is the ‘Stupid Fun’ article in its archive titled ‘‘Oh, Calcutta: Three Reasons to Hate Gandhi.’’ When The Indian Express sent an e-mail to maxim@palmcoastd.com, the site refused comment on the article, even stating not to get back to them in future.

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The ‘‘mauling’’ of Gandhi, says Ram Chandra Rai, general secretary of Kendriya Gandhi Smarak, only goes to show ‘‘America’s new economic and government policies are contrary to that of Gandhi who believed in relationships rather than making the world a market. America worships the dollar as god.’’

Rajiv Vohra, associated with the Gandhi Peace Foundation, agrees with Rai but points out that Gandhi-bashing is not new. ‘‘Hamaare desh ke log Gandhiji ko doosri tarah se gaali dete hain (people at home abuse Gandhi differently). So it doesn’t surprise me and America does it in an open manner. Gandhi always spoke of maryada while America promotes a licentious lifestyle. This is a tussle between Gandhism and Americanism.’’