Days after the festival of colours, Holi, was celebrated around the world, the Hindumisic usual suspects rushed to social media to share videos maligning the Hindu festivals and guilt-tripping Hindus over its celebrations.
Sharing videos of stray and isolated incidents, the Hinduphobic elements defamed the festival of the colours and insinuated that it glorifies and normalises molestation and harassment, especially of women.
Jas Oberoi, a Khalistani sympathiser and a columnist for Newslaundry whose contempt for Hindus and Hinduism is evident through his disparaging tweets, posted a video of a man forcing his sister-in-law to play Holi with him and forcibly kissing him.
“An underage girl forcefully kissed & groped by her ‘Jija’ – husband of an elder sister – under the garb of playing Holi. Kya mast tyohaar hai!” Oberoi tweeted along with the video.
An underage girl forcefully kissed & groped by her ‘Jija’ – husband of an elder sister – under the garb of playing Holi.
— Jas Oberoi | ਜੱਸ ਓਬਰੌਏ (@iJasOberoi) March 8, 2023
Kya mast tyohaar hai! pic.twitter.com/hkM3rXzrsf
Many others also shared the video uploaded by Oberoi. Kaveri, a Twitter user, quoted Oberoi’s tweet in a thread she had compiled over the nonconsensual celebration of Holi.
Bilkul theek hai. Social stimulus mil raha hai. Shyness dur kar raha hai.https://t.co/RRtmeFFkkJ
— Kaveri 🇮🇳 (@ikaveri) March 10, 2023
The video instantly went viral on social media, particularly on Twitter, where users, primarily belonging to the Islamolesftist persuasion, who are often on the prowl to attack and defame Hindu festivals, reposted the video and vilified Holi over the same.
#HappyWomanDay “what kind of culture is this and festival”? Clearly the underage girl is shaken by his jija and that criminal is forcefully kissing an underage girl … pic.twitter.com/wBcLAJ6Ziz
— mateen🇵🇸 (@fiire_n_iice) March 8, 2023
Similarly, other videos targeting Holi and humiliating Hindus were also shared on the internet.
Vinod Kapri, a self-proclaimed filmmaker, shared another video of a foreigner talking about what she had to go through during Holi.
होली के नाम पर कितना शर्मनाक और घिनौना हुड़दंग होता है – इस विदेशी महिला का अनुभव सुनिए। pic.twitter.com/d62z3hItFF
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) March 9, 2023
This video, too, had instantly gone viral, with social media users asserting that the incident was from this year’s Holi and did not reflect well on the Hindu festival.
What a shameful and disgusting hue and cry in the name of Holi – Hear the experience of this foreign woman.#Holi2023
— Tujju (@Tujju) March 10, 2023
pic.twitter.com/HPSb2Rewij
A foreign woman is narrating what happened to her in the name of Holi celebration. This is being done in the name of festival. Listen to her.pic.twitter.com/zMSQEPRN4i
— Waquar Hasan (@WaqarHasan1231) March 9, 2023
The truth about the viral videos maligning Holi
Several videos shared on social media are old and are not from this year’s Holi celebrations. They are shared by anti-Hindu elements on Twitter to attack the festival and target the Hindu community.
The video that is doing the rounds on the internet, which was also shared by Khalistan sympathiser Jas Oberoi, is at least one year old. It was uploaded on YouTube on 5 April 2021.
Yet, the propagandists shared the old video to slander the Hindu festival and induce guilt among Hindus over one of their festivals.
Another video, which was shared by the likes of Vinod Kapri, about a foreign woman sharing her experience while celebrating Holi in India, was at least 2 years old. A more extended version of the video was uploaded on YouTube two and a half years ago, in September 2020. The video, shared by a YouTube channel ‘Under The Same Skye’, was uploaded on 13 September 2020.
However, several social media users continued to bandy about the old video, alluding that the incident may have taken place during this year’s Holi celebrations.
How Hindu festivals continue to be attacked by usual suspects
But Holi is not an exception. Hindu festivals continue to be the object of contempt for many ‘journalists’ and media organisations who claim to follow the principle of ‘secularism’ religiously but are often found indulging in blatant Hinduphobia while gushing over the festivals of other religions. These usual suspects have a dubious distinction in maligning Hindu festivals while glossing over the uncomfortable truths about the festivals of other religions.
The modus operandi espoused by such people entails pontificating Hindus about the vices purportedly associated with their festivals and holding the festivals responsible for the perpetuation of those vices. This procedure is exclusive only for the Hindu festivals and for non-Hindu festivals, lofty ideals of brotherhood, peace, inclusiveness etc. are attached while glaring vices are intentionally concealed.
