The public apologies keep rolling in

First Published: April 1, 2018

In the past three weeks, the number of public apologies that have come in from people who are answerable to the masses is atypically high. While they are almost always tactical in nature, it does seem like a rather swift way of getting things back on track without much ado.

The apologies started with someone called Naresh Aggarwal, who recently joined the national ruling party BJP, quitting the Uttar Pradesh regional party – the Samajwadi Party. Apparently, he was miffed that the legislative seat that he was supposed to get the ticket to, was given to Jaya Bachchan instead, who is a former actress and continues to be popular i.e. make occasional news, thanks in part to her illustrious film family. Aggarwal, in an interview, said that the ticket had been given to people who dance in films, or something to that effect. Given that Bachchan is a well-respected actress, and the remark smacks of sexism, the remark attracted the annoyance of none other than the Union External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj. Aggarwal had to then retract his remark and apologise to Bachchan in the media. Thumbs up here to girl power!


He was hardly the only political personality to apologise, however. Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, went on an apology spree as well, in a bid to bury the hatchet with all the people he had offended by making indiscriminate remarks against them, without substantiation. He is not saying that this is on account of his changing his mind, but it is more likely on account of the fact that the defamation cases against him have piled up like nobody’s business. As per reports, there are some 40 cases against him. Chief among the apologies asked for by Kejriwal include former Punjab Minister – Majithia – who he had accused of presiding over a narcotics business in the state. He has also asked for apologies from other political leaders. But everyone is not in a mood to let him off the hook so easily. Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister, is apparently not accepting it just yet despite Kejriwal extending an olive branch to him. Nevertheless, it’s a start.

Then last week, the apologies went global, as Mark Zuckerberg of facebook apologised in advertisements across US and UK national newspapers for the data privacy breach that led to Cambridge Analytica’s now infamous mining of user behaviours. The #deletefacebook campaign, which was supported by none other than Elon Musk and the sharp drop in share prices might have had something to do with it. But a week later, at least some damage seems to have been controlled.
For those who believe in astrology, the present time is one known as the ‘Mercury Retrograde’. Mercury is the planet of communications, and when it goes into retrograde, typically communications go awry so misunderstandings run high. But it is also a good time to correct any errors made in the past, by retracting previous words and actions, and moving forward on a cleaner slate. India’s politicians, and indeed the famous around the world sure seem to be heeding Mercury’s advise.