Albeit for some time, the demeaning casteist slur of a hashtag #मंडल_टॉयलेट_क्लीनर did trend on Twitter India in top 5 trending topics. The purpose of the trend is difficult to ascertain as most users who were tweeting were clueless on why the topic was trending and were simply using the hashtag to increase the number of tweets and to get it to trend and most of the tweets were without content and were mindless

Our take:This throws some light on how Twitter from being a good old micro blogging site has become a platform for hate mongers, mainly users with a strong right-wing ideology, to further their motive of casting aspersions on people promoting or expressing liberal thoughts. Although, surprisingly enough, twitter was very proactive in deleting the trending topic, the tweets are still available on twitter if one searches by the hashtag and hence one cannot call it complete damage control. Twitter has a long way to go to eliminate hate speech but incidents of recent past have shown that Twitter is not interested in going all out against hate speech, as that could erase its user base, which seems to be filled with hate mongers.

Some tweets were extreme denigrating:

Translation: If we clean Mandal with this Mandal Toilet Cleaner only then will our nation be clean

In response to the trends, Dilip Mandal himself tweeted saying, “the toilet cleaner hashtag was considered as hate speech. It was removed from trending topics. Think about the scores of people who are subjected to this kind of hate everyday. Think about those women who bear such insults every day. The country should apologize to them. #RamdevApologize. Apparently, the distasteful tweet about Dilip Mandal was started by supporters of Ramdev Baba and IT cell of BJP, because DIlip Mandal had posted tweets asking Ramdev Baba to apologize for making anti-Dalit statements on National Television.

He also said, “Yes I am a toilet cleaner. BJP IT Cell is making the toilet cleaner trend to insult me. But this is not something to feel humiliated about. You should feel ashamed that you have compelled scores of people to do this on basis of birth. And made such divisions in the name of religion.”

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The early morning arrests of activiss and lawyers over the  Bhima-Koregaon violence rocked Maharashtra earlier this year, has invited criticism from civil liberty groups and Dalit organisations.

Early on Wednesday (June 6) morning, Dalit activist and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus Rona Wilson was picked up from Delhi and a Dalit writer and editor of Vidrohi magazine Sudhir Dhawale was arrested in Mumbai. The multi-city crackdown also saw activists Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, and lawyer Surendra Gadling being arrested from Nagpur. The arrests have been protested by the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan, which consists of 250 Dalit groups and activist organisations. The Dalit groups are planning to stage a mass protest against the arrests.

The activists have been arrested and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a senior cop in Nagpur, who chose to remain anonymous told Mint. It has been reported that the arrested men had allegedly spread controversial pamphlets and delivered hate speeches during an event called Elgar Parishad, which led to the riots.The event was held was held on December 31, 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon.

One person was killed, over 50 vehicles were torched and public property was damaged in the violence between the Dalit groups and the Marathas, following which Bharipa Bahujan Mahajan Sangh leader Prakash Ambedkar and other parties called for a Maharashtra bandh on January 3.

After the riots, the Deccan Gymkhana police station in Pune had also registered an FIR against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani and JNU student Umar Khalid for allegedly inciting the violence and encouraging people to take to streets and retaliate.The latest crackdown saw the police making multiple arrests. The police version : “We have been able to establish the money trail between these Naxal sympathisers and Naxals ahead of the Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017,” the senior official, who is associated with the state’s anti-Naxal operations said.

“Offences were registered against some of these activists including Dhawale in January only for the violence that broke out in Bhima-Koregaon on January 1 that we believe their inflammatory speeches at the Elgar Parishad triggered. We have accumulated more evidence in the last few months and have a stronger case now,” the official added.

Meanwhile the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) have condemned the arrests. Meanwhile Gujarat MLA, Jignesh Mevani has, in a press conference in Jaipur condemned the arrests.
 

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