15 tweets. 10000 plus followers. Featured in multiple mainstream media stories. A part of the political lexicon in India forever. These are the vital statistics of the insanely popular anonymous Twitter handle Adarsh Liberal. After giving us the perfect adage to describe the unique species of pseudo liberals in India, this account went into a hibernation of sorts for several months, and yesterday he/she was back, with a bang:
An Adarsh Liberal Hindu Festivals Calendar pic.twitter.com/bPxRmwVPLC
— Adarsh Liberal (@AdarshLiberal) January 13, 2016
This latest creation of Adarsh Liberal has once again gone viral and looks all set to break the account’s own record of most viral tweet. For a good measure of the popularity of this account, this tweet at the time of writing, had well over 2700 Retweets, as compared to less than 1000 Retweets for PM Modi’s last few tweets and around the 1000 mark for Delhi CM Kejriwal’s tweets. Add to this the fact that Modi has well over 17 million followers, Kejriwal has around 6 million, and this humble anonymous account has just breached the 10000 mark. And we are not even counting Facebook shares, Whatsapp messages, Emails etc
So who is behind this handle? Until now, the person has kept his/her identity secret. The account never replies to anyone, not even to enquiries to contact him from media. But from the tweets, one can hazard a guess as to what kind of person is behind this account.
Obviously, he has a deep dislike for the pseudo liberals of India. The “liberals” who back a Kiku Sharda’s freedom of speech but say Charlie Hebdo crossed the line. The “liberals” who demonize a Dadri and lend a deaf ear to Malda. The “liberals” who talk discuss animal cruelty over a beef steak. Such bigots masquerading as liberals have been exposed by this account several times:
Adarsh Liberal be like pic.twitter.com/YcRT8ztczK
— Adarsh Liberal (@AdarshLiberal) March 10, 2015
And it’s not just dislike. A lot of wit, humour and sarcasm is an essential in everything this account puts forth. And this trademark sarcasm is what has led to this account becoming so popular.
Take for instance this absolutely hilarious video which uses hard-core facts and a good deal of comedy to cut through the “Christians under Attack” narrative.
What it manages in a small video was being tried by so many portals through long essays, worth thousands of words. And yet, in all probability, the message from Adarsh Liberal reached more people more effectively than most other methods.
Also, the person handling the account has a penchant for social media and knows what will work and what wont. Combined with a deep sense of timing and choosing the right issues, we get an account which creates viral content with remarkable consistency.
The various hilarious and ruthless memes apart, what this account has given the world, which will last an eternity is the phrase “Adarsh Liberal”. It encompasses everything wrong with Indian “liberals” and the phrase has got stuck on their back like a rash which just refuses to go away.
The effect of Adarsh Liberal has been so much that even typically Adarsh Liberal media houses like Indian Express were forced to cover the latest poster. But even here, Indian Express attempted to draw false equivalences, such as comparing Adarsh Liberal to the completely unknown counter campaign of Adarsh Bhakt, which never ever kicked off on social media. It also calls Adarsh Liberal “a Twitter account that makes it a point to mock the idea of liberalism”, whereas from all posters of Adarsh Liberal, its clear the person is targeting the Indian brand of pseudo secularism, which of course Indian Express also practices.
We of course have approached this account multiple times, to get in touch with us. But true to its nature, the account just doesn’t respond. If you have any idea who might be running this account, share your guesses in the comments section
