With bail being granted, the country will finally get relief from the Aryan Khand saga. Ever since Aryan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was taken into custody on 3 October, hours after a drug raid on a cruise ship party by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the media has been relentlessly focusing coverage on him. The country’s attention has been diverted from burning issues like farmers’ agitation, fuel price hike, unemployment issue, etc. The media has been giving negative coverage of Shah Rukh and his family.
Though there is no clarity whether Aryan was found carrying or consuming drugs, the NCB and media harassed him and Shah Rukh Khan. It looks like the NCB is working with a twin agenda to harass Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and to divert the attention of the public from real issues. Shah Rukh Khan is being targeted because he is Muslim and is a very successful star. His persona is very much against the agenda of the RSS/BJP which thrives on minority bashing. There is a chilling message that the powers that be are sending out to the minorities in India: You are on watch, and despite what you do or who you are – you might be Shah Rukh Khan for all we care – you are a lesser animal since your name is ‘Khan’.
The NCB, which is tasked with combating drug trafficking and use of illegal substances under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, is not only going after Bollywood actors but is now engaging and encouraging thugs, conmen, and BJP party men to conduct investigation. After burning Rhea Chakraborty at the stake last year, they are now a powerful propaganda arm of the government. The NCB has become more a propaganda machinery than an investigating agency.