Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint recently platformed a pathological bigot who had made genocidal calls against upper castes, made derogatory remarks against the Indian Army and floated the idea of granting permission to Muslims to carry weapons to tackle resistance from gau-rakshaks to cow smuggling.
Nilakantan RS or @puram_politics as he is known on X, formerly known as Twitter, recently authored an article titled ‘Vote in the Lok Sabha elections, but know it’s just a symbolic gesture. Voice matters more’ for Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint.
While the article penned by Nilakantan RS is replete with hoary platitudes and cliched arguments about why people should not only vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but also raise their voice, what stirred up a row was the fact that The Print relied on a Hinduphobic bigot with a chequered history of abusing and dehumanising upper caste to sermonise its readers on the benefits of voting.
Screenshots from 2015 of his tweet are circulating, in which he implied that killing individuals from the Upper castes is a service to society.
The individual has also made derogatory comments about the Indian Army, alleging that it is ‘very proficient at raping women.’
He had also expressed a desire for India to suffer a military defeat by China to halt the growing wave of nationalism in the country.
The individual was also observed indulging in fantasies about the assassination of Narendra Modi on Twitter.
The person had also called for Muslims to get a license to carry a gun and carry them to ward off gaurakshaks who resist attempts at smuggling bovine, animals that hold religious significance for Hindus.
While Nilakantan RS has been spewing venom against India in general, his ire against the upper caste is particularly acute. He has been targeting upper caste members on X, using dehumanising and abusive references to characterise them.
Here are some of his tweets that demonstrate his rabid bigotry against upper castes:
It is worth noting that The News Minute, a left-leaning propaganda outlet, was at the receiving end of online backlash, much like ThePrint is currently facing after it had tried to rehabilitate the anti-Hindu bigot. In 2018, The News Minute started a new podcast featuring Nilakantan, ‘Puram’, where he engaged in conversation with politicians and policymakers on their vision for society among other things.
Six years later, ThePrint is trying to mainstream the hatemonger. OpIndia wrote to ThePrint founder Shekhar Gupta seeking his response on the platforming of a controversial individual known for his genocidal calls against Hindus, most notably upper castes. We are yet to receive a reply from him. The article will be updated when we hear from Mr Gupta on his views on platforming a Hinduphobic bigot.
