Hostile sarcasm is a sneer weapon of the weak. Following the unravelling of the plot to assassinate Prime Minister Modi, there has been a meltdown of a sort in the journalism and leftist circles who have been at their caustic best. While many rejoiced at the prospect, there were some who were busy floating conspiracy theories. Amongst them, JNU ‘student leader’ who doubles up as a freelance protestor, Shehla Rashid, took to Twitter to theorise that BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and the RSS is planning to assassinate Prime Minister Modi and blame it on the Muslims and communists and then lynch Muslims.
Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) June 9, 2018
Just before this, she had called the plot to assassinate Modi, whom she referred to as a mass murderer, ‘bullshit’.
Such bullshit! A mass murderer trying to play victim. Give me a break! https://t.co/4QxNButlCT
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) June 9, 2018
Shehla has been a very vocal hater of Prime Minister Modi where she has even once accused Prime Minister Modi of bringing in demonetization to ‘divert’ attention from the ‘missing‘ JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.
Demonetisation failed.
110 poor people lost their lives for nothing, but a govt gimmick to divert attention from Najeeb & Bhopal Encounter.
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) August 31, 2017
Not taking these wild allegations lightly, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who had earlier slapped a defamation case on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for unverifiable wild allegations made against him, threatened legal action against those who attributed the plot to assassinate Modi to him.
I would be taking legal action on anti-social elements who have made bizzare comments; attributing personal motives to me, regarding the assassination threat to PM @narendramodi
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) June 9, 2018
Threatened by legal action, Shehla immediately shifted goalposts and claimed she was being sarcastic.
Leader of world’s biggest party gets worked up about a sarcastic tweet. Imagine what an innocent student @UmarKhalidJNU must be going through after a baseless media assault on him & his father by Times Now.
Mr. Gadkari, will you also take action against Rahul Shivshankar? https://t.co/tNDZLrqOKV
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) June 9, 2018
By that logic, was her tweet of ‘diverting attention from Najeeb’ also a sarcastic one? And will it be considered sarcastic if I say she and Umar Khalid murdered Najeeb Ahmed to put the blame on Narendra Modi? We may never know!