Social media has proven to be a powerful tool for people to express their views and ideas. Beyond its obvious advantages of facilitating online socialisation, keeping years-old friendships and relations alive, and helping businesses expand to uncharted territories, social media has empowered people with an agency to speak or write on matters that hitherto no other platform ever provided.
Its utilities and advantages notwithstanding, social media portals, like any other communication platforms, have also had their fair share of disadvantages and downsides. The most glaring among them is attracting all sorts of abusers, trollers, manipulators, propagandists and instigators, who believe insulting and provoking people online somehow adds meaning to their wretched existence.
Recently, Mohammed Zubair of Alt News harnessed this dangerous aspect of social media by dog-whistling against Nupur Sharma, touching off an ugly chain of events leading to the death of at least three people in the name of ‘blasphemy’, besides the attendant chaos and disorder that came in its wake.
Egged on by the Alt News co-founder’s inflammatory rhetorics, thousands of Islamists hit the streets, threatening to behead Nupur Sharma for her audacity to comment on Prophet Muhammad. As the matter gained international attention, Zubair and Alt News hopped on the gravy train, seeking donations in the name of carrying out ‘responsible journalism’.
And the faithful dutifully lined up to plunk down money to Alt News—apparently, for setting the country on fire—as Islamists across the nation went on a rampage, indulging in wanton violence, vandalism and issuing ‘sar tan se Juda’ threats to Nupur and those who supported her.
One of the patrons of propaganda outlet Alt News is an internet troll named Joy Das, who has time and again worn it as a badge of honour to bankroll an organisation that works as a mouthpiece for Islamists when it is not conducting slanted ‘fact checks’ or when its co-founders are not busy making derogatory posts against Hindu Gods and Goddesses or whipping up a communal frenzy against those who restate what has been mentioned in authentic and reliable Islamic Hadiths.
Joy Das, who has made no bones about his aversion for the non-left or for anyone who disagrees with his political inclinations, and laboured his way up the ladder of the ‘liberal’ coterie, has a history of making derogatory posts on Hindu Gods, Hindu places of worship and Hinduism in general. For years, social media users dismissed the Hinduphobia exhibited by Das as a desperate attempt by a wannabe trying to firmly embed himself in the ‘liberal’ orbit.
However, after ‘liberals’ subjected ordinary yet assertive Indians to doxxing attacks, online ostracism, and brought an action against them by tagging their employers and demanding action against people whose views did not converge with theirs, Hindus on social media realised the need to bring people like Das, no matter how worthless cog they are in the giant ‘liberal’ wheel, to a reckoning for their behaviour that they have brushed off for so long.
Specimen of Joy Das’ Hinduphobic tweets
Recently, a Twitter user who goes by the handle @CrimeMasterV2 highlighted the chronic religious bigotry exhibited by Joy Das on Twitter, where he routinely mocks Hindus and their cherished beliefs because it burnishes his ‘liberal’ credentials and does not evoke ‘sar tan se juda’ chants like quoting from authentic and reliable Islamic Hadiths does.
People like @Joydas don’t appreciate the fact that they can insult Hindu religion without fear.
— Crime Master (@CrimeMasterV2) July 6, 2022
He is donating money to fight for @zoo_bear who has ruined life of 100s of people.
No one is complaining to Joy’s employer @LIQVDAsia
Few gems of Joy (many deleted): #Razorpay pic.twitter.com/UV2tEjY7J4
In a string of tweets, the Twitter user highlighted how Joy Das (@Joydas), an inveterate disparager, has been denigrating Hinduism and its pantheon of gods through his perversely vile tweets aimed at insulting Hindus. From Lord Ram to Lord Ganesha to Lord Hanuman, Joy Das has felt no compunction in being disrespectful of deities revered by millions of Hindus around the world.
Though some of the objectionable posts have been removed by Joy Das, primarily after suffering a backlash online, there still exist plenty of tweets where the internet troll masquerading as an ‘intellectual’ insulted Hindus and their religion.
In May 2022, amidst the debate over the discovery of a Shivling inside the wuzukhana of Gyanvapi mosque, Joy Das shared a three-decade-old video from San Francisco to imply that Hindus have a tendency to turn any and everything into their deities. It was not lost on anyone that Das’ post was directed at the Hindu assertion of the discovery of a Shivling at the Gyanvapi site.
Joy Das has also been a vocal proponent of Muslim encroachment on public spaces for religious purposes. In December 2021, he drew a false equivalence between Muslims occupying open spaces and public roads to offer namaz with the celebrations of Hindu festivals. He said Muslims use only 26 hours a year of open spaces while Hindus use over 1000 hours a year for their festivals. What he conveniently misses out on highlighting is that Muslims also celebrate festivals such as Muharram, Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi and other occasions when thousands throng the streets in various cities and towns, occupying roads and public spaces. Beyond everything else, Das here tries to rationalise the occupation of public property by a specific community just because they need “26 hours” of open spaces a year.
While ‘liberals’ keep insisting that terrorism has no religion despite the overwhelming majority of the caught or eliminated terrorists being Islamists, one of their footsies, Joy Das, does not mind accusing Hindus of being traitors and working for Pakistan’s ISI.
In yet another tweet, Joy Das had cast aspersions on the former CJI who was a member of the bench that had granted the site in Ayodhya to the Hindus for building a Ram Temple. Insinuating that the judgment was a result of a quid pro quo arrangement, he criticised the verdict saying that the Ex-CJI was awarded a Rajya Sabha post.
Back in 2018, a controversy broke out as liberal luminaries partook in condemning the use of Hanuman posters on cabs and linked it with aggression and hostility against other communities. Long, convoluted and devious articles were written, which enjoyed international coverage, on how Hindutva proponents have found a new expression for their bigotry in Hanuman posters. Joydas was one of the members of the ‘liberal’ firmament that furthered this Hinduphobic narrative on Twitter.
Joy Das’ employer condemns his Hinduphobic tweets; promises to take action against employees who had hurt religious sentiments
Besides spewing hatred against Hindus on Twitter and targeting one of the most successful business magnates in India, Joy apparently also has a day job. He works at the Mumbai office of LIQVD Asia, a Digital Marketing agency that describes itself as ‘the ideas company for a digital world’. He had recently attended LIQVD Asia’s birthday bash in Mumbai after the organisation completed its nine years.
In addition to his Hinduphobia, Das has repeatedly attacked Ambanis on social media. He weaved a conspiracy theory to play down the bomb scare outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence and inexplicably linked it to farmers’ protest. He also has body-shamed Mukesh Ambani’s son and made vulgar jokes about Neeta Ambani.
However, it is worth noting that Das’ organisation LIQVD Asia proudly flaunts its association with an organisation named DigiBoxx, a cloud-based file-sharing application company that has partnered with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio. But that hasn’t stopped Das from insulting the Ambanis and spinning wild conspiracy theories against them.
OpIndia contacted LIQVD Asia about their stand on the Hinduphobic posts made by Joy Das, one of their senior-most employees. In a detailed response, the company condemned his derogatory posts and distanced itself from his anti-Hindu tweets.
“We have found that many Twitter users have condemned the offensive comments made by Mr Joy Das. Considering the whole matter seriously, we would like to categorically say that there is no direct or indirect relation of the company with the said case. LIQVD ASIA holds full faith, respect and pride towards the culture and civilization of India,” the organisation said in an email response.
Distancing itself from Joy Das’ Hinduphobic comments, his company said, “We would like to clarify that the statements referenced by Joy Das may be his personal views, which have been tweeted from his personal Twitter account. His personal Twitter account is his personal space for expression. The views expressed herein shall not be construed to be related to the views/beliefs of the Company.”
The company has also assured that it will take strict action against its employees who are found hurting the religious sentiments of people, even though it has not revealed yet what action it plans to take against Joy Das, whose derogatory posts deriding Hindu Gods have long gone viral on Twitter.
LIQVD Asia also took to Twitter to respond to the raging controversy. On being highlighted how one of its employees is brazenly exhibiting Hinduphobic tendencies, the official Twitter of the company tweeted, “As a responsible Indian company, we fully respect India’s faith, identity, culture, civilization and tradition. LIQVD Asia always condemns the statements/comments that provoke public sentiments.”
एक जिम्मेदार भारतीय कंपनी के रूप में हम भारत की आस्था, अस्मिता, संस्कृति, सभ्यता और परंपरा का पूरा सम्मान करते हैं।
— LIQVD ASIA (@LIQVDAsia) July 8, 2022
Liqvd Asia आमजन की भावनाओं को उद्वेलित करने वाले बयानों/टिप्पणियों की सदैव निंदा करती है।
In the past, Joy Das’ ideological brethren have run motivated campaigns attacking Hindus in the middle east for something as innocuous as backing the Citizenship Amendment Act, a bill passed by the central government to fast track granting of citizenship status to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, which has led to job losses.
It will be worth noting what punitive action LIQVD Asia initiates against Joy Das for his patently Hinduphobic posts and for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with his tweets mocking and insulting Hindu Gods or if the assurance by the company is only a lip-service aimed at temporarily assuaging the feelings of Hindus until the issue becomes cold and forgotten.
England: One arrested for racist comments against Indian cricket fans in the Edgbaston Test
On the fourth day of the Edgbaston Test (July 4), a group of English fans misbehaved against Indian spectators sitting in the stands. On 8th July 2022, Birmingham police arrested one person from the English fan group who misbehaved. Birmingham police informed this through a tweet. The arrested person is being interrogated.
Team India recently played the Edgbaston Test against England, in which India lost by 7 wickets. On the fourth day of the match (July 4), the Indian spectators sitting in the stands were mistreated by some English fans. They were abused and called Pakistani. A group of English fans had made bad comments about Indian fans, the complaints of which were reported through Twitter. The Edgbaston authorities and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) then took cognizance of the matter and launched an investigation.
In a tweet that brought this matter to light, it was described how Indian fans were subjected to racial abuse. The Twitter user wrote in a series of tweets, “Racist behaviour at Edgbaston towards Indian fans in block 22 Eric Hollies. People calling us Curry C**ts and paki bas****s. We reported it to the stewards and showed them the culprits at least 10 times but no response and all we were told is to sit in our seats. We were also fearful for our safety as women and children but had no assistance when we left. This is unacceptable in today’s society.”
Birmingham police tweeted, “A 32-year-old man has been arrested for a racially aggravated public order offence after reports of racist, abusive behaviour at the test match in Birmingham on Monday. He remains in custody for questioning.”
According to a report by the Times of India, West Midlands Police spokesperson said, “We have launched a criminal investigation into reports of racist, abusive behaviour at the Test match in Birmingham. We are liaising with Edgbaston officials to understand what has happened and would encourage anyone who heard any racist language or gestures or has video footage that could help, to get in touch.”
The officer further said, “We are aware of the images circulating in the social media showing an alleged offender. We are making inquiries to identify the person and would urge him to come forward and speak to us.”
The second Twenty20 International between India and England will be played at Edgbaston on Saturday. As part of a series of precautions, Warwickshire County Cricket Club has chosen to place “undercover football crowd-style spotters” in the stadium to listen for and report abusive conduct.