The social media can be used for the good and bad both, but what is good and what is bad cannot be decided by the person who posts the content, as the outcome is always based on the orientation of the people who reads that post. Eating beef is not uncommon in the state of Goa, but when the same thing had been posted by the historian from Bangalore, it had resulted in creating a massive controversy on the social media.
According to the reports published by ABP Live online portal, A tweet by historian Ramchandra Guha from Bangalore resulted in a massive backlash and sparked controversy on social media site Twitter.
On his post that Guha shared on Twitter, he said that he ate beef in BJP ruled state, Goa. With more than 2.8K replies and 1.3K retweets, the photograph had the caption, “after a magical morning in Old Goa we had lunch in Panaji, where—since this is a BJP ruled state—I decided to eat beef in celebration”.
Ramchandra Guha deletes beef lunch pic from Goa, says former RAW official ‘threatened’ him https://t.co/Mgl01uB1eo
— DNA (@dna) December 9, 2018
According to Mr. Guha, he was in Goa to witness the feast of St. Francis Xavier in Old Goa and followed by his visit to the world heritage site, he decided to have a lunch in the capital city of Goa, and while having the lunch he posted a tweet on his twitter handle.
It is very obvious and common to eat beef in the state of Goa, as it available across many of the Goan specialty restaurants, but the way Guha had posted on the social media led to spark the controversy.
The statement of Guha not only became the cause of controversy, but some of the political leaders started using it in their favor to gain political mileage.
According to Former BJP MP Balbir Punj, Guha’s Guha’s ‘secular’ mentality has turned him into an insensitive person. In his post, Punj wrote “You are not enjoying a meal while eating beef and sharing the picture on social are purposely mocking at the faith of millions. Suit yourself. How your ‘secular ‘ mindset has turned you into a totally insensitive human being is not difficult to see.”
Following the BJP government ruling in the country, the cow slaughter has been banned in many states but Goa remained exempted from the ban due to its community where the beef eating is the part of their diet habits.
You are not enjoying a meal while eating beef and sharing the picture on social https://t.co/1yJ7yGAkMl are purposely mocking at the faith of millions. Suit yourself. How your ‘secular ‘ mindset has turned you into a totally insensitive human being is not difficult to see.
— Balbir Punj (@balbirpunj) December 7, 2018
it may be recalled that there was an initiative from the cow-vigilante group to ban the beef in the state, but people of Goa, especially the minority community, had protested against it and finally the chief minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar had to issue the direction to the Goa police to act against the people creating such communal disharmony in the state.
According to India Today, Mr. Guha had received the threatening calls. After writing a post on Twitter on Sunday, Guha said he and his wife received threatening calls from a man alleged based in Delhi. Guha said the man in question claimed that he is Sanjay, a resident of Delhi.”His number is +91-98351-38678. He threatened my wife as well as me. This is for the record,” Guha said.
I have received threatening calls from a man calling himself Sanjay from Delhi. His number is +91-98351-38678. He threatened my wife as well as me. This is for the record.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) December 9, 2018
In another post, Guha retweeted a post by one RK Yadav and said that he too is threatening him. Guha claimed that Yadav is a former RAW officer. In his tweet, Yadav has called people to give a “befitting reply” to Guha for eating beef and “trying to tease whole of Hindus (sic)”.
The reports in India Today further stated that This is not the first instance when Ramachandra Guha has been criticized by the right wing for his views. Guha has openly opposed the Modi government’s policies in the past and the numerous cases of cow vigilantism in the country–from Mohammad Akhlaq’s lynching in Dadri, the recent Bulanshahr violence, the Alwar lynching or the attacks on rationalists like Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh in states of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
