In a strange string of events, after bullying Twitter into giving him a blue tick and accusing Twitter of being casteist while doing so, ThePrint columnist Dilip Mandal has now urged Twitter to take the blue verification tick back.
ये मेरा ब्लू टिक हटाओ. किसने मांगा था. सबको समान स्टेटस दो. जिसमें दम होगा, उसकी बात आगे जाएगी. #RestoreProfRatanlal
— Prof. Dilip Mandal (@dilipmandal) November 4, 2019
In a Tweet, Professor Dilip Mandal, who works with ‘upper caste’ Shekhar Gupta in The Print said that he wanted his blue verification tick removed and that everyone should get an ‘equal status’ on Twitter. He also said that whoever has most ‘dum’ his opinion will hold greater value.
Dilip Mandal, who says he is against ‘Blue Tick Hierarchy’ in his Twitter bio, had earlier called Twitter casteist for not giving him a verification blue tick because according to him, Twitter gives out verification badges as per caste of people. He spent his entire weekend along with other trolls accusing Twitter of being ‘Brahmanvadi’ for not giving him a verified badge. He had also said how many other Dalit activists were deprived of a ‘blue tick’ because of Twitter’s ‘Brahmanvad’.
Read: Accusing Twitter of being an agent of ‘Brahmanvad’ shows the hollowness of leftist Dalit activism
He called Manish Maheshwari, Twitter India head, a casteist bigot for being unfair to Dalits and not verifying his own Twitter handle. Essentially, Mandal, who is associated with Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, where Gupta is an upper-caste Baniya by caste and has a verified Twitter account, had accused Twitter of being casteist for not giving him a blue tick. However, he now seems to not want the blue tick and is rallying for Twitter to ‘take it back’.
Later in the night on Sunday, after day-long activism demanding verified account, Mandal said that his fight is not for a blue tick, but the fact that Twitter has upper and lower caste divisions. Not having a verified profile is now described as caste discrimination on the hands of Twitter. And now, after his account is verified, he is threatening Twitter that unless the micro-blogging site verifies Twitter accounts of 500 non-political people from SC-ST-OBC community, he will get his blue tick removed.
@TwitterIndia, शुक्रिया, बिना मांगे या डॉक्यूमेंट दिए मुझे वेरिफाई किया. मुझे चाहिए नहीं. अगर आपने 7 दिन के अंदर SC-ST-OBC के 500 अराजनीतिक लोगों को वेरिफाई नहीं किया तो मैं अपना ब्लू टिक हटा लूंगा. लाखों सवर्णों को ब्लू टिक बांटा है, 500 इधर भी रखो.
— Prof. Dilip Mandal (@dilipmandal) November 4, 2019
Dilip Mandal had said that that the ones with ‘neeli janeu (blue janeu)’ are the ones who tweet, and others retweet and say ‘wow, sir!’ which is not acceptable to him. Mandal had also announced that on 4th November, the Bhim Army will protest outside the Twitter office in Mumbai and lock it out.
He has now threatened that ‘Bhim Army’ is about to reach Mumbai office of Twitter to ‘shut it down’.
#RestoreProfRatanlal नेशनल ट्रैंड में 12th नंबर पर है. अब तो Shut Down Twitter ही करना पड़ेगा. मुंबई में भीम आर्मी आज दोपहर को ट्विटर के ऑफिस पहुंच रही है. pic.twitter.com/bZ5A7Dygj9
— Prof. Dilip Mandal (@dilipmandal) November 4, 2019
He has also asked his followers what would be an apt time to ‘trend’ ‘Shut Down Casteist Twitter’ on Twitter.
“शट डाउन कास्टिस्ट ट्विटर” ट्रैंड कराने के लिए सही दिन और समय क्या होगा?
ट्विटर का धंधा इसी की वजह से तो चल रहा है कि हमारे लोग यहां भीड़ बनाकर मौजूद हैं. वो चाहते हैं कि हम सिर्फ भीड़ बनकर दूसरों के लिए “वाह सरजी” करें. फॉलो और लाइक करें.
— Prof. Dilip Mandal (@dilipmandal) November 4, 2019
This controversy was not limited to Dilip Mandal. Several other prominent people like Media troll Prashant Kanojia, too, joined in the trend. Amusingly, he is the same journalist who had tweeted likening Dalits to animals. Later, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party RJD too joined the trend after Mandal had urged everyone to tweet with ‘Brahmanvad Twitter’ hashtag.
One must recall that this juvenile controversy has broken out a year or so after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey triggered a huge controversy for holding a placard that said ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’.
This controversy, while might appear silly, is the lowest ebb that caste politics has fallen to where even a verification tick by Twitter can be turned into a caste issue.
