D Roopa Moudgil, the first lady IPS officer of Karnataka, is making headlines after engaging in a long-drawn-out war of words with a Twitter account called True Indology over the issue of cracker ban. Moudgil, who expressed her support to the ban on bursting firecrackers around Diwali, received harsh criticism from many on social media for allegedly taking an anti-Hindu stance in the matter. After a verbal exchange on Twitter, which resulted in the suspension of True Indology's account, Moudgil has come under attack by right-wing brigade who are trending the hashtag #ShameOnYouIPSRoopa and accusing the microblogging site of partisanship.
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Here's a timeline of events that transpired:
1. On November 14, Moudgil shared on Twitter the link to a Facebook post she wrote in favour of the cracker ban imposed by many states and cities (including Bengaluru where she is based) during Diwali this year, in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as increased air pollution. In her post, she questioned people's outrage over the cracker ban, saying she was "left aghast to see some intellectual, highly educated, respectable citizens jeering the crowd on violating the Rules on ban of crackers."
2. Moudgil even addressed the issue of extremists condemning the cracker ban as an attack on Hindu culture, by writing, "Crackers were not there during early and later Vedic age; there's no mention of crackers in our epics and puranas. Crackers came in to this country with Europeans. It is no core-tradition or custom related to Hinduism."
3. While her Facebook post generated wide traction, a Twitter account by the name True Indology (now suspended) opposed her views, thus engaging with her in an ideological exchange tweet-after-tweet.
4. A main point of contention was whether ancient Hindu scriptures mention crackers as part of the culture (as True Indology claimed they did) or they don't (as Moudgil claimed). Moudgil maintained that crackers are "a social practice, not found originally in epics. We have given up on various social practices tht were not conducive."
5. Moudgil, who had been demanding an apology from True Indology for its allegedly abusive statements, had said in a tweet that the troll account's time was "up". Social media users allege that it was after this tweet that True Indology's account was suspended by Twitter. Many accused Moudgil of using her "clout" to suppress freedom of speech.
6. Moudgil is receiving backlash on social media with hashtags like #ShameOnYouIPSRoopa and #BringBackTrueIndology for issuing what is being called an "open threat" through her remark of "time's up." Trolls are claiming that Moudgil doesn't deserve to occupy her senior IAS position on taxpayers' money and demanding action to be taken against her.
7. Actor Kangana Ranaut too weighed in on the issue to side with the suspended Twitter account. Calling True Indology a "true hero," the actor slammed D Roopa Moudgil for "indulging in time pass trolling that too in working hours threatening and intimidating youngsters." In a series of tweets, she has demanded the suspended account to be brought back.
8. Moudgil, meanwhile, has hit back at the trolls, saying that they should know better than to disrespect the laws laid down by central authorities on crackers being health hazards. In her last tweet addressing the controversy, she wrote to those criticising her, "bcoz u have no respect for laws,rules of Govt,Court decisions &quasi judicial bodies &engage in continuous trolling with ur followers,misleading people with false knowledge, it will be wrong if I engage with trollers like u. Hence I'm blocking u ."
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