Selfstyled ‘ nationalists’ troll Prasad for standing up to hate
DIGITAL BOUT Smriti Irani and Rajyavardhan Rathore also condemn Lankesh’s murder
NEW DELHI: A barrage of nasty tweets, including those from selfstyled“nationalists ”, greeted Union minister for information technology Ravi S hank ar Pr as ad who stood up against hate messages over the murder of Gauri Lankesh.
The 55-year-old editor, a fierce critic of Hindutva forces, was gun ned down outside her Bengal ur uh om eon Tuesday night. The crime brought back chilling memories of the murders of at least three rationalists and leftleaning thinkers since 2013.
“Expressing happiness on the killing of anyone is shameful, regrettable and totally against Indian traditions. Social media is not for that,” Prasad tweeted on Wednesday. “But @rsprasad couldnt find the sense to condemn a host of vile tweets blaming Sang hp ari var? At least learn monkey-balancing from seculars,” tweeted, @sankrant, one among the many people who attacked Prasad.
In another tweet, a ‘Hindu Nationalist’ Chi ranjeevi,t aunt ed Pr as ad, saying“Person who can’ t win a lokh sabha election, enjoying power coz of sacrifices of many RS S/ B JP workers who laid their life.The supportfor Prasad, who stood against malicious campaign on social media, also swelled .“There is hope with your kind of people still in politics,” tweeted @RanjanPiush amid a rare troll against a senior NDA minister. Prasad, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Smriti Irani were among the people who condemned the murder of Lankesh. BJP’s political opponents accused the BJP-RSS of trying to throttle voices of dissent, a charge categorically denied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari.