Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has found himself at the target of incessant Twitter trolling after he posted a seemingly harmless tweet celebrating the successful launch of Chandrayaan 2 on Monday.
Taking to Twitter, Harbhajan had written “Some countries have moon on their flags
While some countries having their flags on moon.” While doing so, he also posted the flags with the moon from countries with a predominantly Muslim population and compared them to countries such as the US, Russia, China and India, who’ve had their moon missions.
No sooner did the former India cricketer share his tweet, he began to face incessant atatck from some Twitter users, who accused him of being communal. They argued why Harbhajan had only chosen flags from Muslim countries. Activist Kavita Krishnan wrote, “May I disturb this bigoted story of yours with some reality? This is the Nepal flag, also with the crescent moon on it. Literally ‘flagging’ all ‘Muslim’ countries, is the essence of Islamophobic baiting & profiling. Wish you cd learn from Sri Lankan cricketers & rise above this.”
May I disturb this bigoted story of yours with some reality? This is the Nepal flag, also with the crescent moon on it. Literally ‘flagging’ all ‘Muslim’ countries, is the essence of Islamophobic baiting & profiling. Wish you cd learn from Sri Lankan cricketers & rise above this. pic.twitter.com/HMPkexOE2V
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) July 23, 2019
Other also reacted similarly;
Shame on you @harbhajan_singh .
Your Tweet is in bad taste and shows Indians in a bad light.
You are not a True Sportsman.
You are a Communal PersonI hope @bcci takes action against
You for your Communal Tweet and stops yours Pension .Shame on You.
— Ashish Joshi (@acjoshi) July 22, 2019
New India. Where we celebrate our achievements by mocking others. What a shame. How easily Indians can spoil a happy cheerful mood in a second!!
— एकता ? (@UnityZstrength) July 23, 2019
What a shame, open bigotry. Reaching moon is not the best indicator for development. Some countries with moon on their flags are much ahead on HDI than others who have flags on moon.
During a proud national moment, you must add a communal angle, no? Pathetic— Jaini /উজ্জয়িনী/ اجینی (@IchbinUjjaini) July 23, 2019
However, Harbhajan also found some support from others, who felt that there was nothing communal about his tweet.
I am wondering what the hullabaloo about this tweet is. Liberalism ke naam pe kuch bhi.. no Indian Muslim feels allegiance to other Islamic countries with moons on their flags..that tweet by Bhajji was incredibly quirky. @harbhajan_singh is definitely not communal! https://t.co/tpNv995OgF
— Lubna U Rifat (@lubnaurifat) July 23, 2019
Its a clever punch line, where is the offence in it? No need to paint religion and start a border war on twitter. ( also why is every paki response “get toilets first”? Is that the only thing you have more of than India?)
— Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) July 22, 2019