More dark times ahead: Twitter scorns SC order on national anthem

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the national anthem be played in all cinema halls across the country

The Supreme Court's order making the playing of national anthem in cinema halls mandatory elicited sharp reactions from the twitterati with senior commentators terming it "pointless".

President of Centre for Policy Research Pratap Bhanu Mehta said the apex court "decimated" the rule of law in its quest for "populism".

"The Supreme Court's moral, constitutional and political idiocy in the national anthem order is truly breathtaking. More dark times ahead," Mehta said in a tweet.

Senior columnist Ashok Malik wrote he finds the order "pointless", adding that the SC should have better things to do.

"Forget this 'constitutional nationalism' obsession. Promote civic sense and civic pride. Everything else will fall into place," Malik tweeted.

Some used humour, which is never in short supply on Twitter, to mock the order.

"#NationalAnthem ruling is a good initiative towards patriotism. The movie BORDER should also be compulsory before every movie screening," film director Shirish Kunder tweeted.

"How will SC enforce its #NationalAnthem order? By ordering a cop in every show, or simply crowd-sourcing it to self-appointed vigilantes?" senior journalist Shekhar Gupta tweeted.