The sarcasm in the tweet made by Dr Anand Ranganathan on the issue of ‘Mysore Pak’ is surely being missed by some of the anchors in the Kannada media. Taking it to the next level, an anchor of Suvarna news, Jayaprakash Shetty has now asked for the arrest of scientist Ranganathan for claiming Mysore Pak belonged to Tamil Nadu.

In an angry tone, the anchor questioned the credentials of Dr Anand Ranganathan as a professor and shockingly calls him a ‘Thikla’ meaning a deranged man. He further goes on to say that Anand Ranganathan was the one who gave the idea to Nirmala Sitharaman to declare GI tag for Mysore Pak in favour of Tamil Nadu.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQp5V-haP0s]

Shockingly, the anchor then asked for the arrest of Dr Anand Ranganathan for falsely attributing the origins of Mysore Pak. Calling his tweets ‘seditious’, the anchor questioned why can not he joke about Dr Ranganathan having connections with Pakistan. Shetty in the video expressed his anger over Anand Ranganathan as he claimed that the JNU scientist was attempting to create a divide between two states.

In an unnecessary attack against Ranganathan, Shetty further misled the viewers by referring to a tweet made by Anand Ranganathan where he had promptly requested the people of Karnataka to end the issue. The anchor states that it was because of the pressure exerted by the media, Dr Ranganathan sought to apologise for his gaffe.

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Magnifying the issue, the anchor further stated that Dr Anand Ranganathan has tried to hurt the feeling of Kannadigas. However, after his attempts backfired, he sought the help of Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya to save him from the wrath of Kannadigas, said the anchor while personally attacking Dr Anand Ranganathan.

The whole Mysore Pak incident concerning Dr Anand Ranganathan was totally uncalled for. The sarcastic tweet made by the scientist was deliberately picked by the Kannada media to target him. In doing so, many Kannada news channels resorted to fake news to mislead people over the issue.

The Mysore Pak has been one of Dr Ranganathan’s long time gags on Twitter. Ranganathan is a big fan of the delicacy, had said that after meeting Finance Minister Sitharaman that talks are proceeding smoothly over granting of GI tag to Tamil Nadu, his home state. However, no one had expected that a huge controversy would erupt over the issue of Mysore Pak, which originated in Mysuru during the rule of Wodeyar dynasty.

Dr Anand Ranganathan is one of the foremost genetic engineering and biotechnology scientists of the country. An alumnus of Cambridge University, Dr Ranganathan is known for his objectivity over a range of issues and is also one of the highly respected individuals across the social media platforms. A man of varied interests, he is currently researching dengue and tuberculosis at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi and Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, JNU.