So, during the wee hours of the night of 22nd April 2020, renowned news anchor and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Mr. Arnab Goswami, along with his wife were attacked by two bike riders while he was on his way back from work to his residence in Mumbai.
Mr. Goswami alleged Indian Youth Congress workers for conspiring and executing this attack on him and his wife.
#ArnabAttacked | ‘Was attacked while returning home’: Arnab Goswami files police complainthttps://t.co/K9pmlJrDMe pic.twitter.com/Chu7j8t1SY
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) April 23, 2020
Incident Followed By Shameful Twitter Hashtags
Right from the morning of 23rd April 2020, as soon as the news of this attack broke out, the Indian Twitter promptly got overwhelmed by divisive tweets. Though the attack was yet under investigation, the implicit misogyny of India was quick to serve its judgment in the favor of its deeply rooted chauvinism.
This is not unwarranted blame on the nation which is a proud touch-bearer of women empowerment. Rather, it was apparent for all those who happened to see the trending hashtags on Twitter.
Hashtags like #BarDancer and #BarBala were quick to top the trend chart and people started using them unapologetically to insult the 73 years old President of Indian National Congress, Sonia Gandhi.
https://twitter.com/girishjaiswal_/status/1253178329080922113
https://twitter.com/RajKumar0371/status/1253205363098357760
https://twitter.com/Indrajeetdeen/status/1253208972355670022
https://twitter.com/Sareef_aadmi/status/1253185527165091840
https://twitter.com/PukhrayanWala/status/1253198646713163776
https://twitter.com/rainapuneeta/status/1254792267107368960
https://twitter.com/Anshuvirdhi1/status/1253247769239830528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1253247769239830528&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idiva.com%2Fnews-opinion%2Fopinion%2Fusing-bar-dancer-as-an-insult-for-sonia-gandhi-is-misogynistic-heres-why%2F18008721
Also Read: There’s A Petition Popularized Through Twitter To Disable Amitabh Bachchan’s WhatsApp
Just for the purpose of clarification- Sonia Gandhi was born and brought up in Italy and during her college days, worked as a bartender, not a bar dancer in an Italian restaurant.
So, firstly the claims made by the Twitter hashtags were blatantly incorrect. Secondly, for everyone who wants a society where equality and respect must prevail over gender and profession, it was a hard-hitting incident because people used the profession of a bar dancer as an abusive comment to defame a lady.
Reflection of Misogyny
As if the crimes against women in India are not already suffocating for the safe and respectful existence of women, the INC President was mocked mercilessly for just having worked in a bar.
Not only that but in doing so, people intentionally or unintentionally ridiculed thousands of women who make their ends meet by having to work in this or more of such professions.
This incident was a mirror that reflected upon the modern, open-minded, and evolved Indian society as to how misogynistic it can be for the sake of bashing the political rivals.
It’s high time that Indians realize that in order to break the age-old image of orthodox conformists, they have to let go of this selective approach of respecting women.
Decency towards everyone, without any form of prejudice, will definitely make a mark in India’s effort towards a better future.
Image Credits: Google Images, Twitter
Sources: Twitter, OpIndia, FirstPost
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