Dear Jack,
During your visit to India, you became an embodiment of what-not-to-do-when-on-a-trip-to-India. The comedy of errors began with your posture while meeting the head of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and in the mother of all ironies, meeting Rahul Gandhi, of all people, to discuss fake news. Now, you have got yourself into another controversy. Meeting a Leftist gang of journalists who focus on spreading anti-Hindu canards.
India is a country where instinctively, the majority of the country firmly believes in Nationalism. Most of us are patriots who believe in giving each other respect and above all, believe in living up to what this country, that we consider our first mother, expects of us. After these shenanigans, several people who thus far enjoyed the great platform you built from the ground up, are questioning you and Twitter. Are you against us? We wonder. Do you wish to insult us? We ask. You have made it difficult for digital India to trust you. That’s just bad business.
You have not only acted against the very foundation of this country, that is built on values derived from tolerant Hinduism, but also acted against the ethos of your own company. At least the ethos you claim to have. That of mutual respect. Acceptance. Tolerance. Freedom. Liberty and avoiding abuse at all cost.
You carried a placard that read “Smash Brahaminical Patriarchy”.
For a CEO of a multi-billion dollar international company, one would expect you to understand that basic dynamics of the country and understand what is right or wrong. If you didn’t know, perhaps I should inform you that these are slangs. Casteist slurs used to defame and denigrate Hindus for a long time. You endorsed this, Jack.
When you held that placard, you should have asked these “activists” what Brahminical means. Brahmins are a varna who believe in scholarly pursuits. Brahminical is a term coined by people who wish to use that construct to insult Hindus, because lashing out at Hinduism on the whole, in so many words, would be counterproductive for their agenda.
Brahmins are a section of Hindus. An important section. Just as important as any other Hindu. To target a specific class of people without a basic understanding of the culture or the hatred harboured by the very “journalists and activists” you wined and dined with was a brutal insult to Hindus.
Perhaps the “activists” you spoke to told you that Brahmins are akin to the Fathers of the Church or Mullahs of the mosque who choose to impose a codified conduct on women. It is not so. Nothing can be further from the truth. As I explained, Brahmins are a varna that historically believed in scholarly pursuits.
They must have told you that Brahmins are priests and just that, I would assume. How else would they explain to an American the complex dynamics of a diverse country like India, all the while peddling their own agenda? It is not true. Brahmins today are involved in a number of professions like farming, business, and yes, also being priests. This has nothing to do with patriarchy or any of the gibberish you must have been told.
You have already admitted that you and your employees at Twitter have a strong left bias. However, do you think its alright for a corporation to oppose Hindus, that too, while in India by aligning himself to a bunch of hatemongers and politically motivated groups?
The violence that that poster signified and the caste hatred that it conveyed was endorsed by you. Hateful posters were also seen when the genocide of Hindus happened in Kashmir. Would you take responsibility if the result of Twitter CEO endorsing caste hatred leads to hate in our country?
You are openly playing into the hands of declared Communists in India who are sympathizing with all sorts of terrorist and extremist groups. Is it your official stand that you support the ideology that caused the genocide of farmers and poor citizens in communist societies of ex-USSR and China?
One wonders: What did you want to achieve by this?
It is entirely possible that you were not aware and a bunch of vicious people simply used you to make a political point. And I would be inhuman if I didn’t sympathise with your predicament if that be true.
I can only hope that you would be careful in the future. It is not ok to deride Hindus in India (or anywhere, for that matter) just like it’s not ok to harbour anti-Semitic sentiments and deride the Jews. It is really the same thing.
I can only hope that the next time around, you would learn about our culture before either endorsing hatred or being taken for a ride by the ones who do.
Forgiving is in our Dharma. So whether you apologise or not, we forgive you. With a hope that you will see reason.
Best wishes and we look forward to seeing you again.
