'You are stupid': Katju bids goodbye to Facebook and reminds us of the hilarity we could lose

There's never a dull moment with retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. An avid blogger and social media enthusiast, the 70-year-old, who also happens to be former chairman, Press Council of India, has entertained many and infuriated even more people with his opinionated posts on social media over the last few years.

On Tuesday night, the maverick judge, who loves to rake a storm in a cup every once in a while with his strong opinions on things big and small, posted a status message on Facebook that began with the usual dramatic flourish:

"Probably this is going to be my last facebook post." 

What followed was in the same tone and tenor that Katju's more than 3.85 lakh followers have come to expect from him.

I am a man of 70 and have very few years more to live.

I tried to pass on all my knowledge I acquired in my life to you, so that you may benefit. This knowledge I acquired from my gurus, before whom I stood with folded hands for decades before they gave me that knowledge. But what did I get in return? I got mostly abuses from most of you, because most of you are stupid and arrogant, and have no desire to learn.

I am sorry I even tried to teach you. So, goodbye. 

As was to be expected, the post was widely shared and commented on, with some of his followers remonstrating with the good judge, exhorting him to stay on, while some others expressed relief and wondered whether something in particular had upset him.

Katju then appears to have taken a screenshot and posted it as an image on Twitter with a message saying, simply: 'Goodbye'.

He did not specify whether this was meant to be a goodbye to Twitter as well, or was merely an announcement of goodbye to Facebook.

However, on Wednesday morning, the post could not be spotted on his Facebook page. While the post had disappeared from Facebook, a reminder was left behind on Twitter:

In between, by way of an explanation, Katju also chose to pin, on top of his Twitter profile, an old tweet from January 19, simply saying "Time to stop" with a longer post from Facebook enclosed, expressing his increasing dissatisfaction and fatigue with these interactions, concluding with these words:

now I intend to write fewer posts and only when they are required by the changing circumstances

As an explanation, though, it could be best considered cryptic, for the simple reason that it remains unclear whether he was reassuring his followers that he would continue to post "when...required by the changing circumstances" or whether this was just background information as to what may have led him to finally decide to say goodbye.

Dedicated Katju watchers would recall that he had once earlier disappeared for a long spell from Twitter in 2013, soon after people claimed on his behalf that his account was hacked when tweets, which appeared to be from him, with Urdu poetry addressed to various journalists, started doing the rounds.

In the last few weeks and months alone we have got excellent examples of why, even if he may be too prolific, Katju was an asset to have online. At the start of the year, when asked to predict what he expects from 2016, the former Supreme Court judge told Scroll that conditions will be more and more like features of the Kaliyug, according to the Puranas.

He then called Delhi women "vishkanyas (poison women)", made statements regarding his disapproval of gay marriages and has even asked for "beautiful women" to be elected as politicians.

A sampling of just his pronouncements on the controversy over Jallikattu, a Tamil tradition involving bull-baiting that animal rights activists have called torture, gives you the full spectrum of what Katju offers: from critiquing the court he once sat on to throwing regionalism into the mix, to making reference to European history and literature to self-effacing (religious) humour.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the reactions remained, as always, mixed. A sampling: