A number of fake Twitter handles, posing to be members of Arabic Royalties, posting anti-India rhetoric, has raised concerns in New Delhi, a report in DNA has said.
Gulf nations have realized the seriousness of the matter and have conveyed to the Government of India that they will have zero tolerance to any attempts to create discord.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was told by the Finance Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Palestine on April 24. He had earlier spoken to the Finance Ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Algeria on this issue.
“During Jaishankar’s conversation with the Finance Ministers of the Gulf region, both sides realised that such attempts are also “intended to create discord in the special relations that exist between India and countries of the region,” the report added.
There is an online war inciting hate over decimation faced by Muslims in India and Hindus in Middle East, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Even Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam, currently stuck in Dubai was mocked for his 3-year-old Azaan tweet. In 2017, singer Sonu courted controversy when he posted a 2-minute video, presumably from his house, in which azaan can be heard, and called the forced religiousness in India as ‘gundagar’
Earlier, India’s Ambassador to UAE, Pavan Kapoor on Monday took to Twitter to say that the two countries shared the “non-discrimination on any grounds”.
“Discrimination is against our moral fabric and the Rule of law. Indian nationals in the UAE should always remember this,” he wrote on the social media platform.
Kapoor’s post was added as a response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent Tweet that emphasised that the novel coronavirus does not look at or discriminate on the basis of “race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking”
“Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together,” Modi had written on April 19.
The Ambassador’s rather pointed comments against discrimination comes in the wake of Princess Hend Al Qassimi’s criticism of a twitter user by the name of Saurabh Upadhyay.
After being called out for sharing misinformation and targeting Muslims over the Tablighi Jamaat incident, Upadhyay had resorted to foul language and had alleged that Indian Hindus were being targeted in the Middle East.
He had claimed that India was made of 80% Hindus and had “built cities like Dubai from scratch”. He added that Indians held “major stakes across every big venture in Middle East”
“The same is acknowledged by the ruling royal families and thoroughly respected,” he had concluded.
The UAE Royal did not take kindly to Upadhyay’s comment, writing in response, “The ruling family is friends with Indians, but as a royal your rudeness is not welcome. All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed.”
However, following the UAE Royal’s tweet, a number of fake Twitter handles started cropping up, one particularly of an ‘Omani Princess’. A number of people have fallen for the fake account of the Omani Princess HH Dr Mona Fahad Mahmoud Al Said, who has been tweeting about Muslims getting prosecuted in India.
The tweet from the fake account states – “Oman stands with its Muslim brothers and sisters in India. If the Indian Govt doesn’t stop the persecution of Muslims, then 1million workers living in Oman may be expelled. I will definitely take up this issue with the Sultan of Oman. @narendramodi”
While the account may have over 85,000 followers, the bio was recently edited to say that it was a parody account. However, this did not stop Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir from retweeting the tweet the ‘Princess’ had shared.
“Indian PM @narendramodi creating problems for his countrymen working in other countries statement from Princess @SayyidaMona is reflection of growing anger against Modi policies his hatred against Muslims may force friends of India in Middle East to reconsider their policies,” he tweeted.