After #METOO, another hashtag takes over the world by a storm, particularly in India.
Hashtag #TalkToAMuslim is kicking up a storm in India. Thousands of Indian tweeps have taken to the social media platform to highlight the seemingly growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the country.
The trend seems to have kicked off after writer Zainab Sikander (@zainabsikander) tweeted:
I’m An Indian Muslim.
I’m Human too.
You can talk to me.#TalkToAMuslim https://t.co/fvkYcWPday pic.twitter.com/lup88CjD2N— Zainab Sikander (@zainabsikander) July 17, 2018
She posted this in response to an earlier tweet by Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) who had tweeted: “I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalized and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me….”
Gandhi’s tweet came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a speech on Sunday, quoted Gandhi as saying that he wanted practices like triple talaq to continue. The Congress president denied having made any such statement and the Congress party demanded an apology from Modi.
In just three hours, the hashtag #TalkToAMuslim had over 7,000 tweets. Sikander and other Muslims started posting their pictures with the hashtag, requesting people to look beyond communal hate politics and uphold secularism in India. On Tuesday evening it became the top trend on Twitter in India.
Like many Muslim tweeps @Ssaniya25 could not believe this hashtag existed. She posted: “
Never thought a day like this would come where a community will explain how normal they’re, a politician meeting Muslim leaders would become a Topic Of Debate or people will be forced to prove patriotism in their own country.
I’m a Human
I’m an Indian
I’m a Muslim #TalkToAMuslim— Saniya Sayed (@Ssaniya25) July 17, 2018
Non-Muslims also joined the tirade against communal violence in India and in support of the minority Muslim community.
I’m a Hindu. I talk to Muslims. Guess they are humans too. #TalkToAMuslim pic.twitter.com/tnzcEF4nkd
— ektaa malik (@ektaa_malik) July 17, 2018
I am Hindu.
I have so many Muslim friends from my childhood.
They are as lovely people as my other friends from Hindu, Christen, Sikh and other religions.
Rather religion matters little in our friendship. #TalkToAMuslim— amey tirodkar (@ameytirodkar) July 17, 2018
I am a Sikh. I surprise my kids with Gifts by their Bedside on Christmas. I am difficult to be recognized on Holi. I always take the onus of lightening my house on Diwali. I invite my Fasting friends for Iftar during Ramadan.
We all are so similar. Please #TalkToAMuslim
— Not that Jaspal Bhatti? (@Bit_2_close) July 17, 2018
If you think that Muslims aren’t feeling persecuted
If you think Muslims aren’t fed up of being the national conversation every night at 9pm bulletins
If you think Muslims don’t feel otherized, demonized & marginalized
Then you need to talk
I am an Indian Muslim#TalkToAMuslim— Nazia Erum (@nazia_e) July 17, 2018
I’m an Indian Muslim
I have fun,
I enjoy life
I can talk to you on Shakespeare, Ghalib, Meerabai, the Mughals and the First war of Indian independence
Of Muslim contribution to freedom struggle
Come talk to me#TalkToAMuslim #TalktoaMuslim pic.twitter.com/4qE6gP7nAQ— Rana Safvi ???? ???? (@iamrana) July 17, 2018
We love our country.
We love our friends irrespective of their faith.
We are Indian muslims.
Lynch us, kill us but we will remain Indians. pic.twitter.com/nIRqo0Kj53— Tanvir (@Tanvir_Ansari) July 17, 2018
READ ALSO: Rahul Gandhi Responds to ‘Party for Muslims’ row, Says this about Religion
Even Bollywood actresses too came with their Twitter posts:
A powerful response to the hate politics being practiced by the present dispensation @BJP4India and its mouthpieces. #TalkToAMuslim https://t.co/TvuOJc3RaF
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 17, 2018
#India is standing up for love and peace.. #TalkToAMuslim ?????????????????????????? https://t.co/uSJk3TjwSZ
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 17, 2018
#TalkToAMuslim it’s not a crime ! ????????? https://t.co/Lkl3HkdM2P
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 17, 2018
#TalkToAMuslim seriously didn’t think a day would come where talking to a muslim leader or a commoner would question ur patriotism or ur belief in ur own faith!!by land I am a Hindu ,by faith I am a Muslim and by heart n soul INDIAN is my identity !!! #killThehate #spreadlove pic.twitter.com/kiXaHNmplA
— Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) July 17, 2018
Some, however, felt that the hashtag was unnecessary and that the situation was not that bad in India.
What the hell is this #TalkToAMuslim hashtag?
Shameful this is.. A new circus or something? Who doesn’t talk to Muslim’s? Twitter has become a joke!— Koena Mitra (@koenamitra) July 17, 2018
What’s this #TalkToAMuslim ?
Don’t understand such hashtags. I am a Muslim, I won’t bite you, come talk to me, what bullshit? Please make me understand why do I have to prove!!!!!!— ?????? (@pepper_smoker) July 17, 2018
The Congress party president’s statement on the micro-blogging site came just a day ahead of the commencement of Parliament’s monsoon session.
Rahul Gandhi has been facing flak from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a statement on the Muslims, which snowballed into a controversy.
On July 11, he held a meeting with Muslim intellectuals. On July 12, the Urdu newspaper Inquilab carried a story, headlined ‘Congress is a Muslim party’, to which BJP accused the grand old party of minority appeasement ahead of the upcoming 2019 general elections.
However, the Congress party, rubbishing the report, said that Gandhi never made such a declaration.
“This is absolute lies and shameful spin by the newspaper. The BJP using it to further its own agenda, yet again, exposes their desperate tactics to mislead the nation. However this will not deter us to fight for India’s founding principles and its democratic values,” Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted.
The hashtag ‘Talk to a Muslim’ came to life when communities across the United Kingdom, earlier, started responding to some violent threats, contained in a letter, which promised that April 3 would be marked as a ‘Punish a Muslim Day’.
According to media reports, the phrase ‘Punish a Muslim’ was coined in an anonymous letter distributed to some homes and businesses in east London, the Midlands and Yorkshire in May.
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