On the 15th of August, a video surfaced in which a Rapido taxi driver was seen screaming at and abusing his passengers, claiming that they had hurled casteist abuse in their conversation about their own senior. The passengers were railway employees who were allegedly talking about their superior. The video from Lucknow was first posted by Piyush Rai, who claims to be a journalist. He wrote, “A Dalit cab driver, Ankit Kumar (30), confronted four Indian Railways employees in Lucknow after they allegedly repeatedly used casteist slurs while referring to a senior officer from his community. He later asked all four employees to deboard the cab midway”.
A Dalit cab driver, Ankit Kumar (30), confronted four Indian Railways employees in Lucknow after they allegedly repeatedly used casteist slurs while referring to a senior officer from his community. He later asked all the four employees to deboard the cab midway. pic.twitter.com/gJV0QGtPZ3
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) August 15, 2026
On the same day, Piyush Rai posted another video where the cab driver was seen narrating the incident. He starts his video with ‘Jai Bhim’. In the video, the Rapido driver claims that he has no religious, cultural or caste-based sentiments against the passengers he threw out of his cab. He claimed he was not even aware of the passengers’ caste. However, he claims that the passengers were specifically targeting one caste in their conversation. Ankit Kumar says that, because he hails from the same caste, he asked the passengers several times to refrain from targeting that community; however, they did not heed his request. In his video, he further claims that Rapido suspended him for 100 years without asking him for his version.
Ankit Kumar, the cab driver who confronted four Indian Railways employees allegedly using casteist slur against a senior official in Lucknow, has been suspended for 99 years 11 months from Rapido. https://t.co/M8TMJipBPl pic.twitter.com/pJJYHs1XdH
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) August 15, 2026
The incident drew widespread reactions, with the usual Ambedkarite trope being spewed on the internet. The selective framing of the incident was used by many to abuse Hindus and Hinduism, and also by many Muslims to demand a “Muslim Atrocity Bill”, claiming that Dalits could file SC/ST cases when they face abuse; however, Muslims do not have similar laws to “protect them”.
Hindu religion is a Casteist, Manuwadi, Terrorist religion, killing and discriminating Dalits, SC, ST people based on Caste, Varna, Jaati names. Casteist Manuwadi Terrorist Hindu religion. https://t.co/JWlQlJrocz
— Monad (@agnosticmind) August 16, 2026
We need #MuslimAttrocitiesBill for this very same reason. A dalit can fight because they have a law to protect them, we have none. https://t.co/AuU9ihrR5c
— Sheikh Zia Nomani (@ZiaNomaniblr) August 16, 2026
Congress functionaries also commented on the issue, outraged.
How dare @rapidoapp_ suspend a driver for objecting to caste discrimination, something prohibited by law?
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) August 16, 2026
Tomorrow, if a passenger turns out to be a rapist or a terrorist, shouldn’t the driver object and ask them to step out of the cab?
Companies like Rapido represent the… https://t.co/F1MmU4GmOP
The truth, however, was very different from what Piyush Rai was projecting. After these two videos, Rai did not publish any other information which revealed the truth about the case, making it a classic case of spreading motivated misinformation.
What the truth of the case was: Dalit passengers open up, reveal how Rapido driver Ankit Kumar lied
Hours after Piyush Rai posted Ankit Kumar’s video, journalist Brajbhushan Markandey posted a long interview with the passengers, in which they revealed that they were themselves Dalit and that the Rapido driver had lied blatantly.
He wrote, “Wanted to implement the SC/ST Act! The claim turned out to be the opposite! The victims’ side is shocking! They were four railway employees who booked a Rapido! The Dalit Rapido driver stopped the vehicle and shouted loudly in an aggressive tone! These four people are repeatedly seen shouting while calling them Manuvadi, and it is being observed that they have used caste-related words! The crowd gathers, and then what happens… The special thing is that three of these four people were from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and one person was from Backwards Classes! These railway employees, with their great sense of judgment, stopped a big commotion while a major accident could have happened! If such reactions and the misuse of SC/ST will continue without any reason, where will society go? The four experienced individuals who were present in the discussion themselves had requested to come on our channel so that the truth could be told to society!”
The passengers said that they themselves belonged to the Dalit community and denied having used casteist slurs in their conversation. They also said that Ankit Kumar randomly stopped the cab and started picking a fight with them. He started the video with the casteist slur, and it was at that moment they understood that he aimed to ensure that the passengers were trapped in an SC/ST Atrocities case by making the video viral.
Interestingly, in the original video posted by Piyush Rai, one passenger is also heard saying that he himself is a Dalit; however, Rai did not highlight that aspect of the video.
One passenger in the interview also revealed that Ankit Kumar was calling others on the phone to reach the spot, potentially to incite unrest. “We would have been in serious danger if people were of that mentality and had been influenced by Ankit Kumar”, the passenger said.
3 out of 4 passengers were Dalits
Journalist Brajbhushan Markandey, in his opening remarks, made an interesting observation. That the way the video by Ankit Kumar was framed, and how it was presented on the internet, gave the impression that the passengers probably belonged to general castes and were using casteist slurs against Dalits. Ankit, however, was unaware that 3 of the 4 passengers he threw out of his taxi were Dalit themselves.
How the incident unfolded – what the passengers said
The incident is from the 10th of August. According to one of the passengers, who is a Dalit, the 4 of them were discussing the merits of taking an Ola/Uber ride rather than owning a car. The conversation was about how taxis for hire are far more convenient, since one does not have to pay road tax, tolls, or car servicing costs. Even if one has to travel a bit far, taxis are far more convenient.
The passenger says that they then started discussing how the Railways has now started giving leave to its employees, which was not the case earlier. During that conversation, the group discussed how leave becomes difficult when they receive an insensitive “Triple-C”.
It is this statement that was misunderstood, deliberately or otherwise, by Ankit Kumar, the Rapido driver. He believed that “Triple-C” was a casteist reference, when in reality, Triple-C is a post in the Railways equivalent to an HR manager.
The passenger alleges that after this conversation, Ankit stopped the car and started becoming aggressive. He switched on his camera and started recording the incident.
He also revealed that Ankit started calling people, threatening to commit violence.
Another passenger confirmed the incident and said that right after stopping the car, Ankit Kumar first called someone on the phone, asking them to come to the location.
In another shocking revelation, the second passenger said that when Ankit switched his camera on, he first pointed it towards him. When he did so and started accusing them of using caste slurs, the passenger told him that he was from the SC community as well. At that point, he turned the camera towards a different passenger.
This reveals that the driver actually knew that the group he was accusing had members who were Dalits, and yet proceeded to accuse them of using anti-Dalit slurs.
“The moment he started recording, he started by using the slur (that we had not used). That very moment I knew that he was trying to stir trouble”, the passenger said. “While I understood, those sitting at the back did not understand his motives. They had also done night duty, so were taken aback by the aggression. He kept abusing”, he added.
A third passenger said during the interview that he aimed to get famous, since he has his own YouTube channel.
The fourth passenger said that when Ankit started accusing them, he told him that they also believe in Dr Ambedkar since they were Dalits; however, Ankit did not heed and kept accusing them.
“He created a lynching type of situation”
The passenger says that even when Ankit Kumar was screaming and becoming aggressive with them, they had told him that they too belonged to the SC and ST communities; however, the Rapido driver did not bother listening.
Further, the passenger claims that the crowd that had gathered there was also trying to stop Ankit, saying that he had no right to create a ruckus based on some private conversation among passengers.
“We were very scared. We were lucky that the crowd over there had good people; otherwise, Ankit had created a lynching sort of situation”, the passenger said.
“Differences are disappearing, but such incidents will increase the caste divide”, says passenger
One of the passengers, who is himself a Dalit, said that society was becoming far more egalitarian. Discriminatory practices are disappearing; however, such incidents would only deepen the caste divide.
“We were Dalits. But if we belonged to General Caste, I can’t even imagine what the driver would have done to us”, the passenger said. “Even though we belong to the SC/ST community, we got scared by his aggression. He just imagined the insult and forced it on us”, he added.
Another passenger insinuated that Ankit was trained in creating such a scene to go viral. “He first said that he was a lone Dalit fighting against 4 Manuvaadis. Then he started saying that he was tolerating our supposed caste abuse quietly for a long time. Then changed his statement to claim that he kept requesting us not to use the caste slur, but we did not listen. Then he started telling us about the SC/ST Act. Such people need to understand and stop trying to play the victim. We work in a profession where all castes work as equals. Such elements should not try to create strife”, he said.
Worrying trend of Ambedkarite activism
This incident underlines a worrying trend in modern politics – the rise of dangerous Ambedkarite activism which has crossed over from assertion of identity pride to aggressive posturing and the active persecution of non-Dalits, in some frenzied vengeance over real, as well as imaginary and exaggerated historical grievances.
There have been several cases where those chanting ‘Jai Bhim’ have falsely accused non-Dalits of indulging in casteist behaviour, inciting hate and, on several occasions, violence.
In April 2026, an Instagram influencer was assaulted by Ambedkarite goons simply because he questioned the degrees of Dr Ambedkar. In April, a video from Amravati, Maharashtra, went viral on social media, where a group of Ambedkarite activists (Bhim Tola) were seen beating up an influencer identified as Dev. His mistake was that he had questioned the claims of 32 degrees earned by Dr BR Ambedkar in one of his videos, which has now been deleted. The assault video had a background song, making it hard to understand what the activists were saying and what Dev said in reply. However, he was seen folding his hands and apologising. By the end of the video, police were seen standing while Ambedkarites continued to intimidate Dev. Later, Dev was forced to publish a video apologising to the followers of Dr Ambedkar if he had hurt their feelings. In truth, according to a PIB press release from 2024, Dr BR Ambedkar had five degrees and two honorary degrees, making the total seven. There is no official source that can support the claim of 32 degrees.
In April 2025, in the Shirur area of Maharashtra’s Pune district, a youth was attacked over a social media post on Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. The incident unfolded near Nakshatra Building in the evening when a 24-year-old Vaibhav Santosh Bhosale, a resident of Pawar Mala, was attacked by the accused Roshan Devre and three others. A case has been registered against the four accused at the Shirur Police Station on the victim Vaibhav Bhosale’s complaint. The police said the accused created a fake social media account in the complainant’s name and posted objectionable content against Dr Ambedkar on the Bhimsena Maharashtra Group. Under the pretext of resolving the dispute they created, the accused called Vaibhav to meet them; however, the accused assaulted the complainant.
Another troubling incident from February 2026 was when journalist Ruchi Tiwari was assaulted in the DU Campus.
In the North Campus of Delhi University, a pro-UGC protest took a disturbing turn on 13th February 2026. A journalist, Ruchi Tiwari, associated with the YouTube channel ‘Breaking Opinion’, was mercilessly assaulted by caste activists, including Leftist elements. The incident took place at the Arts Faculty when the Brahmin woman had gone to cover the protests by SC-ST-OBC activists.
The protest was organised by left-wing student groups like the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Association (AISA), and the newly formed All India Forum for Equity. The protestors demanded the implementation of the University Grants Commission (2026) “Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions” regulations, stayed by the Supreme Court. The caste discrimination-related guidelines have caused significant outrage over the 2026 regulation, which ruled out the general castes as victims of caste-based violence by restricting the category of victims to SCs, STs, and OBCs.
Amidst the tensions among student groups in Delhi University, YouTuber Ruchi Tiwari had arrived on campus to cover the pro-UGC protests. However, she was soon surrounded and cornered by a pro-UGC mob comprising 50-100 men and women. It has been alleged that upon learning her surname “Tiwari”, a common Brahmin identifier, several among the mob shouted phrases like “Yeh Brahmin hai, isko pakdo” (She is a Brahmin, catch her). A man can be heard saying in a video, “mar isko pata chalega” (beat her, she will learn a lesson). Another voice was saying repeatedly ‘Koi bol na dena yahan pe, kaat ke phenk denge” (Don’t say a word here, or else we’ll cut and throw you). Someone said the protests were peaceful when she appeared.
These three cases are merely indicative of the malaise that has overtaken Ambedkarite activism, where the assault, vilification, and persecution of non-Dalits, merely for a difference of opinion and, more often than not, merely for their non-Dalit identity, has become a feature rather than a bug. The incident of Ankit Kumar falsely accusing the passengers of hurling caste abuse and the media blindly following that narrative is the natural result of such dangerous activism.
