George Floyd, a black man in the US died as a white police official knelt on his neck.Floyd had repeatedly said that he could not breathe, a medical examiner recently ruled that his death was a homicide.
The incident has triggered global outrage, and in America, there have been large scale protests. Many have now taken up the clarion call for the 'Black Lives Matter' movement. But even as people emphasise the need for equality for the black community, others have chimed in with a counterpoint, that 'All Lives Matter'.
Now, far be it from us to disagree with that sentiment, but George Floyd's death and the consequent protests are aimed at a single issue. It is not an overarching call for justice for every human being. A black man was killed during an altercation with a white official, and as a result, people have rallied together. Against this backdrop, talking about other unrelated issues merely succeeds in undermining this particular protest and cause.
There are also those who have opted to use this time to appropriate the cause and mention other communities whose lives matter.
The Indian American Muslim Council however took this one step further, with a rather problematic tweet on Saturday. In a post as disturbing as the George Floyd challenge seen recently on TikTok, the verified Twitter handle shared a cartoon where "Hindutva Fascism" is seen kneeling on the necks of "Dalit" and "Muslim". They are of course dressed to suit their roles as oppressor and oppressed.
"The Hindutva knee is choking the collective neck of all the minorities and marginalized communities living in India!" the caption read.
Twitterati however had a rather interesting response to this. While many condemned the post for being hateful in nature, or were irked because they felt the IAMC was "insulting Hindutva and Hinduism", others wasted no time is going on the offensive.
Accusations linking Islam to terrorism, reminding people of the Tablighi Jamaat event, and more littered the comments section. One Twitter user for example, urged the Muslim community to "Stop blaming Hindus for your wrong doings". Another said, "Don't forget your culture. History speaks itself about your achievements."
"Hindutva has given shelter to every religion. Islamic Invaders plundered our place of worships, destroyed magnificent temples but didn’t succeed in their Ghazwa-e-Hind plan. Now, frustrated by ancestoral failure, Islamist are trying again by playing victim card. A proud Hindu," read one comment.
"Please report this tweet as targeted hatred against Hindus with fake information," wrote another.
"As per @Twitter , this is freedom of expression and Amul's Tweet is against Policy," commented a third.
