Social MediaTrends
CHANDRAYAAN-3: HOW NEGATIVITY WAS TROLLED ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Read how a BBC Video evoked sharp rebuttals by Twitter users from India & abroad.
Hours after the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3, a video showing a BBC Anchor’s question in a program titled India Moon Mission, became viral on social media. The question was designed to show India and its space research program in poor light. However, it resulted in attracting a number of interesting counter questions.
Dr. Namrata Mishra Tiwari
As the Chandrayaan-3 successfully performed a soft landing on the Moon, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “This success belongs to all of humanity.” And as a reply to a tweet, he tweeted, “This milestone is not just India’s pride but a beacon of human endeavor and perseverance. May our efforts in science and space pave the way for a brighter tomorrow for all.”
However, the Social Media had its share of negativity and trolling.
One viral video showed a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) anchor, in a program titled India Moon Mission, putting a question to the guest, “India, the country that lacks a lot of infrastructure, a country that has extreme poverty, I think more than seventeen hundred million don’t have access to a toilet, should they really be spending that sort of money on a space program?”
CHANDRAYAAN-3 TRENDS ON TWEETER
This video evoked a huge amount of replies. Here are a few glimpses:
Top industrialist Anand Mahindra @anandmahindra is among the top active influencers on X (formerly Twitter). He retweeted a tweet (that had carried the video) and commented:
“Really?? The truth is that, in large part, our poverty was a result of decades of colonial rule which systematically plundered the wealth of an entire subcontinent. Yet the most valuable possession we were robbed of was not the Kohinoor Diamond but our pride & belief in our own capabilities. Because the goal of colonization—its most insidious impact—is to convince its victims of their inferiority. Which is why investing in BOTH toilets AND space exploration is not a contradiction. Sir, what going to the moon does for us is that it helps restore our pride & self-confidence. It creates belief in progress through science. It gives us the aspiration to lift ourselves out of poverty. The greatest poverty is the poverty of aspiration…”
A Dubai and UAE based social media influencer Hassan Sajwani (@HSajwanization) also tweeted the BBC video and wrote:
“I don’t mind the question when intentions are good & constructive … but this low level anchor of @BBCWorld is obviously trying to insult India!
I would have ripped the anchor apart if I was the guest or if he spoke about UAE in this way…”
There were handles which reminded that it was a 2019 video when the Chandrayaan 2 mission was declared a failure.
A handle @ravirao83 replied:
“A very arrogant and presumptuous bunch of people. Very racist mindset – still living in the colonial era.”
A Berlin based handle @OmarHaidari1 tweeted:
“Americans lack access to free education and healthcare, with hundreds of thousands homeless and struggling with addiction on the streets. Yet no one dares to question them. But when it comes to India, @bbcworldservice you are disrespectful & unethical.
@bbcworldservice we knew you are bias, but didn’t realize they are this deep & cheap.”
Another handle @iManishPurohit replied by this:
“I think the right question is how do Britain, created out of loot from entire world, $45 Trillion from India alone, will repay the debt. Every single brick in Britain is a result of colonization, subsequent exploitation and loot.”
A handle @just_kashyap tweeted:
“Anchor doesn’t know anything about India.
They looted 50 trillion dollars worth of wealth from India over 2 centuries
Whatever UK is today is duely because of loot from India
Our share of world GDP was around 25% when they invaded us and when they left it was below 2%”
Another handle @seamusmateus tweeted:
“I’m at Brit. And I don’t actually think this is a colonial mindset. Rather, it’s a Marxist virtue signalling mindset. I despise the BBC @BBCWorld how it patronises and insults it’s audience and guests.
I’m incredibly happy for India, and the success of its space campaign which will benefit the whole world. As well as the economic benefits which will trickle down to its people over the coming years. India and the world are inspired.”
There were many handles like @RaviGhodasara who protested against the negativity with such words:
“Sir don’t bother about negativity, we believe in spreading positivity. He will get all his answers time to time.”
Another handle @Sachin_Birewar commented:
“We don’t get perturbed by such statements from the west. We can understand the frustration they have on our rise. Our focus in not wondering or replying or reacting on such statements. Just ignore them and move towards mission of HAPPY INDIA,PROSPEROUS INDIA, VIBRANT INDIA.”
BACKGROUNDER
It may be noted that India has been making strides in other facets of development apart from its space research program. According to the latest official statistics, the Government of India, led by the Prime Minister Modi, has built 1082.52 lakh toilets since 2nd October 2014, the day when Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched. This has resulted in an increase of over 61 per cent in the number of households with toilets since that date. Between 2019 and 2022, more than 40 million toilets were built across the nation.
Until 2014, India had about 60 per cent of the world’s open defecators. That number has come down very significantly and rural India has actually become Open Defecation Free (ODF), a target that looked unachievable till not very long ago.
OTHER TWEETS COUNTERING NEGATIVITY ON CHNADRAYAAN-3
To a tweet suggesting a negative remark about India, a twitter handle @shashank_ssj retorted back:
Hi @sophielouisecc,
Namaste from the advanced county India which successfully reached Moon with #Chandrayaan3.
To your suggestions, I add:
The UK must also return $45 TRILLION looted money back to India and stop funding NGOs of India in the name of foreign aid.
There were also tweets with a strong rebuttal to an earlier cartoon posted by New York Times (NYT) on India’s Mangalyaan, as evident here:
A handle @jegantoons posted a strong rebuttal to NYT, through this cartoon:
There were many other tweets and their replies like these:
Social media users also made good use of screenshots.
In all, it was a very enjoying feast for Social Media users.
(Images: X, formerly Twitter)
(Dr. Namrata Mishra Tiwari has a PhD in Social media communications and Political Science. A keen observer, she regularly writes on various emerging aspects of Social Media)
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