Days after more than a year-old tweet thread of the popular Twitter account “True Indology” caused a storm in Maharashtra with both opposition and ruling parties demanding punishment for allegedly disrespecting Savitribai Phule, True Indology has clarified that the contents of the original Twitter thread were misinterpreted.
Posting through Twitter account @BharadwajSpeaks, he sought an apology from all the Maharashtrian politicians and said that he will close the Twitter account for good and will not express his political opinions on social media.
The posts by True Indology came after senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM split the online supporters of BJP in the middle by commenting that he would like to see True Indology hanged for his comments on Phule, but action will be taken as per law.
क्रांतिज्योती सावित्रीबाई फुले यांच्याबाबत आक्षेपार्ह लेखन करणाऱ्या आरोपींवर कारवाई करण्यासाठी ट्विटरकडून माहिती मागण्यात आली आहे. तीन वेळा आतापर्यंत पत्र लिहिण्यात आली आहेत. हे आरोपी शोधून कोणत्याही परिस्थितीत त्यांच्यावर कठोर कारवाई करण्यात येईल.
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 27, 2023
विरोधी पक्ष अशा विषयात राजकारण… pic.twitter.com/baXM9BTNYs
Many in RW see True Indology as an icon who successfully countered fake history peddled by the left. The account used quotes from historical books to counter the left, which was admired by people on the right.
However, he was not popular among all the right wing supporters for various reasons, and with Devendra Fadnavis joining that group, the split became most prominent.
In his statement, True Indology states that the entire controversy erupted because his Twitter thread posted more than a year ago was published by two portals Indic Tales and Hindu Post selectively, leaving out crucial details. He says that Tweets where he acknowledged the contributions of Savitribai Phule, his assurance that he respects Phule and his intention was not to dishonour or insult social figures revered by society etc were left out by the portals.
Calling it a misunderstanding caused by selective reporting of his comments, True Indology said, “I hope people see that I don’t deserve to be lynched for a misunderstanding.”
He explains that his intention was to point out that the British colonialists of 1850 were worse than the British soldiers of 1930, as the colonialists indulged in large-scale sexual exploitation of girls. He says that he only questioned why British would respect Savitribai Phule when they had no respect for Indian women, and he didn’t make any explicit claim.
I offer unconditional apology and request for clemency (1/n) @Dev_Fadnavis @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/twuqUS1n3l
— Bharadwaj (@BharadwajSpeaks) July 30, 2023
True Indology said that his comments were misinterpreted to suggest that Savitribai Phule supplied girls to the British, which could only be the reading of a dirty mind. He said, “The bad intentions were only in the mind of the British and I very clearly said it. Savitribai Phule herself did not know this and might have been a victim of the British propaganda. She might not even have realised their actual motives. Yes, I did mention that Savitribai Phule praised British rule. My only criticism directed at her was that she did not fully understand the character of the British rule.”
Referring to the FIR against him which alleges that he insulted the OBC community as Phule was an OBC, he said that he never talked about any caste or community in the original thread. He added, “If I have unintentionally disrespected the OBC community, I render an unconditional apology to all of them. I am nobody to judge historical figures of the past and I also withdraw my comments against Phules. I render an apology to the Phule family as well.”
True Indology also said that the section 505(2) (creating ill will between communities) invoked against him also baseless, as his threat didn’t mention any community. He added that it is an irony that section 505(2) which was instituted by the British to prevent people talking about its atrocities has been invoked against him for his Twitter thread on British colonialsts.
“As our system still uses the same draconian colonial laws against its own people, I wonder whether my great country has really achieved freedom,” he added.
Saying that he wants to end the misunderstandings as his writings have been misunderstood and have offended a lot of people from various communities, True Indology reiterated that his thread was not about Phule or any community, but it was about the British.
“My threads did not imply that Phule was involved in British Sexual exploitation. Rather, they were also victims of the colonial project. However, such complex historical topics often run into misunderstandings. To end these misunderstandings, I intend to state that I would close this account for good and not express my political opinions on this platform,” implying that he will stop posting anything related to politics on Twitter.
True Indology added that he has an elderly mother with health issues and threats against him like threats to behead him and violently parade him have completely broken her. “Anything further and two lives will be destroyed.”
Therefore, he made personal requests to Devendra Fadnavis, Narendra Modi, BJP, Congress, NCP and all Maharashtra politicians to offer him clemency and give him back his life. “I apologise once again for unintentionally causing any hurt. It was never my intention,” True Indology wrote at last.
It is notable that an FIR was filed against Indic Tales, Hindu Post and True Indology in Mumbai in the first week of June, almost two months before the matter appeared in the assembly. After NCP leaders had protested against the portals and the Twitter account demanding action, chief minister Eknath Shinde had ordered an enquiry assuring that actions will be taken and any insults to public figures like Savitribai Phule would not be condoned.
The full statement of True Indology is reproduced below:
| On May 31, an FIR has been registered against me for a twitter thread on Phule. Unfortunately, this thread was misquoted, misrepresented and misread. Everybody has judged my thread and my intentions based on its reproduction in two portals, Indic Tales and Hindu Post. I have not granted these portals any permission whatsoever to reproduce my thread. They posted my thread on their portals without my approval or consent. Unfortunately, they have partially quoted my views on the topic, leaving out my caveats and thus misrepresenting my own stand on the issue. A tweet where I acknowledged the contributions of Savitribai Phule has been left out. Another tweet where I had assured that I respect Savitribai Phule and my intention is not to insult or dishonour social figures revered by any section of society has also been left out. These statements were not made by me after issue became an outrage and FIR was filed. These statements were made long ago in the original threads itself when this issue was not even a political controversy. Therefore, disrespect towards revered icons like Savitribai Phule has never been my stand. I hope people see that I don’t deserve to be lynched for a misunderstanding. It has been argued that my thread implied Savitribai Phule supplied girls to British. That is a complete misreading and misrepresentation of my argument. The point of my thread was that British colonialists of 1850s were much worse than British Colonialists of 1930. In the thread, I posted scholarly citations to show that British soldiers of 1850s indulged in largescale sexual exploitation of hapless Indian Girls. This was known to and approved by top echelons of British Government. I raised a question as to why British would honour an Indian woman like Savitribai Phule when they had no concern for Indian women in the first place? Why would they be interested in education of Indian women if they were more than willing to sexually exploit Indian women? This was the question of my thread. There was nothing else I explicitly said in the thread. This was misinterpreted to mean that I implied Savitribai Phule supplied girls to British. Such could only be the reading of a dirty mind. My – point was very far from it. The bad intentions were only in the mind of the British and I very clearly said it. Savitribai Phule herself did not know this and might have been a victim of the British propaganda. She might not even have realised their actual motives. Yes, I did mention that Savitribai Phule praised British rule. My only criticism directed at her was that she did not fully understand the character of the British rule. In the FIR filed against me for this thread, it was stated that I insulted the OBC community to which Phule belongs. I wish to state that I never talked about any caste or community in my original thread. I have deep respect for the Maharashtra OBC community, and I spoke very highly of many revered figures of that community several times in the past. For instance, on Ahilyabai Holkar alone, I wrote around 10 threads which expressed nothing but deepest admiration for her. My tweets are there for all to see. If I have unintentionally disrespected the OBC community, I render an unconditional apology to all of them. I am nobody to judge historical figures of the past and I also withdraw my comments against Phules. I render an apology to the Phule family as well. Section 505(2) (creating ill will between communities) has been invoked against me. I wish to humbly submit that this is extremely untrue. How have I created ill will between two communities? I have not even mentioned a single community in my thread, forget about mentioning two communities and creating hatred between them. In case of Ahmad Lal Biloo, the honourable Supreme Court ruled out that section 505(2) does not stand because ‘There should be involvement of at least such two groups or communities (Para-15). The provisions cannot be exhausted merely because the feelings of one community or group were incited’. Along the same lines, I wish to humbly submit that section 505(2) cannot be invoked against me for this thread. There is great irony at play here. This section 505(2) of IPC was instituted by British colonialists. When British were indulging in atrocities, they did not want anyone to talk about it. They claimed talking about British atrocities would create a feeling of ill will towards British and endanger the lives of British colonialists living in India. This is why the section 505(2) was instituted and invoked against people like Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Ironically, section 505(2) has been imposed on me after my thread about the deeds of British colonialists. The more things change, the more they remain the same. As our system still uses the same draconian colonial laws against its own people, I wonder whether my great country has really achieved freedom. I am not a criminal. It is just that my writings have been misunderstood and have offended a lot of people from various communities. I wish to end this misunderstanding now. I reiterate that my thread was not about Phule or any other community. It was about British colonialism. My threads did not imply that Phule was involved in British Sexual exploitation. Rather, they were also victims of the colonial project. However, such complex historical topics often run into misunderstandings. To end these misunderstandings, I intend to state that I would close this account for good and not express my political opinions on this platform. I have an elderly mother who is ailing from severe health issues and depends on me. If I wish to live today, it is only because of her. Already, the plans of violently parading me and beheading me have completely broken her. Anything further and two lives will be destroyed. This is my personal request to Devendra Fadnavis, Narendra Modi and BJP. This is my personal request to Congress, NCP and all Maharashtra politicians. Please offer some clemency and give me back my life. I apologise once again for unintentionally causing any hurt. It was never my intention. |
