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Jul 6 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
"I am processing mountains of hate and filth. It is so gory that it is hard to breathe."

Within hours of @LeenaManimekali sharing the poster of herself dressed as Kaali, smoking a cigarette, the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai began to trend on Twitter.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali This further escalated and two FIRs have been registered against the filmmaker, one in New Delhi and the other in Lucknow.

Karnataka BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa went as far as saying that those who insult Hindus “should be hanged or killed by bullets”.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali But when asked if she believes she has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, Manimekalai responds with a defiant no.

“These trolls are not human enough to have any ‘sentiments’ to hurt. They have nothing to do with Hinduism or faith," she says.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali "Their claim to Kaali as a Hindu goddess is a farce. Kaali is deeply rooted in tribal folklore. Her manifestations are embedded in regional and indigenous cultures and belief systems of South Asia beyond the Sanskrit-ised Brahmanical Hindu Religion,” she argues.
@LeenaManimekali “My Kaali is inspired from Tamil and Telugu village rituals where she comes on people as a spirit and eats meat, smokes ganja, drinks country arrack, urinates in the middle of the village, spits on filth and dances wild."

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali A BJP leader responded to this argument by saying it does not justify Kaali being shown to be smoking in the poster.

The film narrates the short tale of Kaali, the ‘pagan goddess’ descending upon a queer BIPOC filmmaker in downtown Toronto.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali “My Kaali believes in love and sharing. She accepts the cigarette from a Black street dweller at a park around Kensington market in Toronto and listens to reggae,” she continues.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali “When Kaali descends on me, the Queer Filmmaker, she will definitely hold a pride flag and a camera. Kaali is my embodiment. I have performed as Kaali.”

The filmmaker further adds that the trolling and threats all signal a larger political agenda.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…
@LeenaManimekali "Who runs this hate mongering stack? They are just unleashed by the Hindu fundamentalist regime. Welcome to India, the killing fields of minorities, artists, activists, journalists and dissenters.”

Read more here.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…

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More from @thewire_in

The Wire Profile picture
Jul 6
As the nation celebrates 75 years of its Independence from British rule, the contrast between 'independence' and 'freedom' seems to have become more and more marked. | Pawanpreet Kaur
thewire.in/culture/citize…
An ongoing exhibition in Delhi organised by SAHMAT (Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust) engages with the many meanings of freedom, and frames these within the larger politico-cultural landscape of contemporary India.
thewire.in/culture/citize…
It features the works of over 200 artists and writers in the forms of paintings, installations, digital art as well as verse and prose poems in various languages, allowing for wide participation of artists as well as viewers.
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Read 10 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
Jul 2
BREAKING | An investigation by The Wire has uncovered the existence of a network of 757 Twitter accounts
used to mount coordinated attacks against @AltNews, of which one tweet was used to arrest @zoo_bear. | @KaulAyushman
@therealnaomib @onosmosis report.
thewire.in/tekfog/altnews…
@AltNews @zoo_bear @KaulAyushman @therealnaomib @onosmosis This arrest is the culmination of a years-long campaign by a network of anonymous and inauthentic accounts linked to Vikash Ahir, state president of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) and co-convenor of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Gujarat.

thewire.in/tekfog/altnews…
@AltNews @zoo_bear @KaulAyushman @therealnaomib @onosmosis Investigations by The Wire have uncovered a network of 757 accounts linked to @team_hyv that have attempted – since 2018 – to incriminate the fact-checker alongside @free_thinker by highlighting and misconstruing old tweets.

thewire.in/tekfog/altnews…
Read 15 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
Jul 1
In an interview with Karan Thapar, Justice Deepak Gupta, former Supreme Court judge, explains why the arrest of @zoo_bear and the denial of bail was wrong – and worrying.
@zoo_bear "Mohammed Zubair's tweet was not offensive and did not violate any law," says Justice Deepak Gupta.
@zoo_bear Justice Deepak Gupta on how the Delhi Police has targeted Zubair, saying, "You can't arrest someone to collect evidence against him. You have to arrest a person when a case is made out against him."
Read 4 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
Jun 7
The GOI says that Nupur Sharma (erstwhile official BJP spokesperson) Naveen Kumar Jindal were 'fringe' in its response to international outrage.

But is it? 🧐

Here are 10 BJP leaders & workers notorious for their anti-Muslim views. | @therealnaomib

thewire.in/communalism/bj…
@therealnaomib 1. Yogi Adityanath:

With hundreds of dog-whistles against Muslims, the CM of UP made anti-Muslim one of his primary political planks.

He promised 'bulldozer politics', and not in a metaphorical way.

Here's our analysis of his hate speech.

thewire.in/communalism/10…
@therealnaomib 2. BJP Worker Dinesh Kushwaha, aka the man who allegedly killed an elderly man with cognitive disabilities because he suspected him of being Muslim.

In a viral video of him assaulting the man, he says, “Tera naam kya hai? ‘Mohammed‘ naam hai tera?"

thewire.in/communalism/mp…
Read 12 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
Jun 4
"The accused and the conspirators of the violence will be booked under the Gangster Act and their properties will be seized or demolished," said Additional director general (law and order) Prashant Kumar. | @AsadRizviJourno
#KanpurViolence
thewire.in/law/kanpur-vio…
@AsadRizviJourno In the recently held UP elections, the 'bulldozer' was used by BJP leaders as a metaphor to demonstrate their willingness to act against what CM @myogiadityanath called 'encroachers' and 'gangsters'. | @TheOtherKaskar @OohiniMukhopad1 and @rkarnad
@AsadRizviJourno @myogiadityanath @TheOtherKaskar @OohiniMukhopad1 @rkarnad "Religion used to be felt in the heart, but now, in the new India, it must be worn on the head; or carried around, blared on huge music systems."
Read 6 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
Apr 22
Today, the primary impulse behind the 'riot' remains but the 'system' has undergone a change of technology. | @svaradarajan
thewire.in/media/an-sos-f…
@svaradarajan Instead of a short, intense bout of large-scale violence in a geographically confined area, the preferred method is to terrorise with a thousand cuts.
thewire.in/media/an-sos-f…
@svaradarajan The field is cast wider, much wider, and the operation is conducted on a continuous basis. Most importantly, the BJP's strategy now is to persecute Muslims in a lawful and open way.
thewire.in/media/an-sos-f…
Read 17 tweets

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