Amitabh Bachchan's tweet, Harsha Bhogle’s agneepath

Amitabh Bachchan often recites lines from Agneepath, a poem written by his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan. He also acted in a film by that name. Now a tweet from him has landed Harsha Bhogle, the respected cricket commentator, on an agneepath.

The sequence of events has been chronicled but bears repeating. During the India-Bangladesh match in the World T20, the baritone tweeted that it would be worthy of an Indian commentator to speak more about "our" players than others "all the time." Mahendra Singh Dhoni, fast emerging as a champion whiner, relayed the tweet to his followers with the comment, "Nothing to add." Bachchan then said that the commentator he was referring to was not Sunil Gavaskar or Sanjay Manjrekar. That left Harsha as a possible target of his complaint.

Bachchan's tweet, Dhoni's endorsement of it and Harsha's argument with an official of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, home of the BCCI president Shashank Manohar, are believed to have led to his ouster from the IPL commentary team. There is no statement on the issue from the Board. And there is no point asking Board officials for one. Their claims of transparency are horse manure (or material for Piku-II).

Bachchan could be given the benefit of the doubt for his first tweet. Maybe it happened in the heat of the moment. But he tweeted a second time too, resulting in a disproportionate response by the board against Harsha.

This, though, is a new India. Empowered by social media, Indians speak out against injustice. They are not afraid to take on holy cows. Bachchan has been criticised, and the masses are with Harsha. The commentator has been a public figure for over two decades, but in the last few days, he became a hero.

Age and Kaun Banega Crorepati lent Bachchan gravitas. Besides, he has always frowned upon frivolity. Surprising, then, that his social media posts are often sophomoric, consisting fad words, jingoism and multiple exclamation marks ( ‘VIIIIRRRRAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAATTTTT! ! You are simply genius!!' March 27, 2016). To Andrew Flintoff in their exchange over Virat Kohli and Joe Root, Bachchan said, ‘Jad se ukhad denge Root ko...!!!' Not the tone or words of a senior statesman.

Dhoni also showed himself in poor light by broadcasting Bachchan's tweet. In the past he has taken digs at journalists for not having played the game. And now he, the captain of India, in the immediate aftermath of an important game, gave credence to a tweet by someone who isn't a cricketer either.

Dhoni, like Bachchan, is another Indian celebrity who most of the time enjoys positive, even fawning, press. Yet feels persecuted by it.

After the Kerala temple tragedy, Harsha tweeted that the incident put his problems in perspective. It is something for Dhoni to ponder over too. And Bachchan might want to remember Irrfan Khan's parting advice to him in ‘Piku'. "Namak churana band kijiye aap."