In December 2012, as the gangrape of a 23-year-old paramedic student shook the conscience of this nation, CBFC Chief Prasoon Joshi was among the thousands of protesters who took to the streets. His poetry reverberated across television screens, striking chords far and wide.

Cut to April 2018, as protests peaked against the gangrape of an 8-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir, as rallies led by politicians waved the tricolour and defended her alleged rapists, the same Prasoon Joshi spoke not a single word. Neither poetry, nor prose. Late on Wednesday night, as his interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi played across television screens worldwide, Joshi’s silence on Kathua and Unnao spoke louder than any of the ‘tough questions’ he fielded. This time, the poetry he recited was not in protest, it was in praise.