In a Hinduphobic tweet, Sahitya Akademi Award winning poet Munawwar Rana referred to Hindus as ‘animals’ who only come in handy while voting and Muslims as ‘humans’.
डियर संबित, कांग्रेस की जवानी में तो आप गब्हे पे रहे होंगे (गब्हे का मतलब आप उड़ीसा में नहीं यूपी में पूछना)। लेकिन करोना पर सरकार की नाकामी ने मेरी इस बात को सही साबित किया कि भारत में 35 करोड़ इंसान और 100 करोड़ जानवर रहते हैं, जो सिर्फ वोट देने के काम आते हैं।
— Munawwar Rana (@MunawwarRana) May 13, 2020
Addressing BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, Munawwar Rana was criticising government of India’s measures to combat coronavirus. He said, “After seeing government’s failure on coronavirus, it has been proven that there are 35 crore humans and 100 crore animals,”. As per 2011 census, Muslim population was estimated at about 17.22 crore which would have grown over the years. And while he did not explicitly mention that he meant Hindus and Muslims as ‘animals’ and ‘humans’ in his tweet, netizens objected to this tweet of Rana and pointed out the Hinduphobic nature of his tweet.
डियर मुन्नवर राणा,
— तिवारी कमलेश कुमार (@Kamlesh150762) May 13, 2020
शुकर करो इन्हीं 100 करोड जानवरो के दम पर तुम जैसे 35 करोड वाहियात, जाहिल और नमकहराम इंसान जिंदा हो।
अब देखना यह है कि ये 100 पालतू जानवरो का जानवरपना कब जगता है और तब तुम जैसे तथाकथित 35 करोड इंसानों का क्या होता है देखेगे।
After the outrage, he again took to Twitter to ‘clarify’ that his words were being twisted.
जिस तरह से हमारे ट्वीट को तोड़ मरोड़ कर हव्वा बनाया जा रहा है वो सरासर ग़लत है।
— Munawwar Rana (@MunawwarRana) May 13, 2020
यहां 35 करोड़ वो लोग हैं जो ख़ुशहाल हैं, और 100 करोड़ लोगों से मुराद वो भारतवासी हैं, जो खाने-पीने और ओढ़ने-बिछाने जैसे हर बुनियादी हुक़ूक़ से महरूम हैं। https://t.co/ok0q8CMLKX
He claimed the 35 crore mentioned in his original tweet were not Muslims but those who are healthy and happy and 100 crore ‘animals’ are those who are deprived of basic things like food, water and shelter. But netizens were not buying it.
ये इनकी फ़ितरत हैं बहुत ज़हर है हिन्दू के प्रति वक़्त वक़्त पर पता चलता रहता हैं ।
— राहुल सिकरवार (@rahulsikarwar01) May 13, 2020
ट्वीट को तोड़ने मरोड़ने की जरूरत किसी को नहीं बल्कि तुम्हारी मानशिकता ही तोड़ने वाली है देश ने मुनव्वर को बहुत सुना अब मुसलमान को सुन रहा है
— सन्तोष मिश्रा एडवोकेट (@santosh581158) May 14, 2020
Amusingly, soon after clarifying that he did not mean to divide Indians on religion as ‘animals’ and ‘humans’, Rana defended the Tablighi Jamaat, which emerged as one of the major hotspots for coronavirus in India.
जमातियों के नाम पर शरीफ मुसलमानों को परेशान करने वाला, हर मुसलमान को पाकिस्तान भेजने वाला गोदी मीडिया, हिंदुस्तान की मिट्टी चूमकर सोने और जागने वाले मुस्लिम को आतंकी कहने वाला गोदी मीडिया, हिंदुस्तान की सड़कों पर लाखों मजदूरों को चलते देख कर आंखे बन्द कर लेने वाला गोदी मीडिया,
— Munawwar Rana (@MunawwarRana) May 13, 2020
Many of the Tablighi Jamaat members were accused of pelting stones and misbehaving with the healthcare workers and frontline staff. UP Police recently arrested few attendees who had allegedly molested a nurse at quarantine centre.
Munawwar Rana
Munawwar Rana was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014 by the same ‘fascist’ Modi government he keeps whining against. He was awarded for “Shehdaba”, a collection of ghazals and nazms (long poems). One of the poems in Shehdaba, was on Sonia Gandhi, which was written when Sonia Gandhi, despite winning with a thumping majority, refused the chair of the prime ministership. He returned the award in 2015 to protest against the ‘rising intolerance’.
In December 2019, his daughter, while protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Act which sought to fast-track Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities in three neighbouring Islamic countries, Pakistani, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, had said that Muslims are Muslims first, then anything else. “Do not lose your identity to become secular,” she said.
