Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey came under fire in India after a photograph showed him holding a poster that read “smash Brahminical patriarchy” during a visit to the country.
The image was taken after a discussion last week on Twitter’s role in India, where caste remains a highly sensitive issue and tensions can quickly escalate. Dorsey was pictured with six women who took part in the session.
The reference to Brahmins, the traditional priestly class at the top of the caste hierarchy, angered some Hindu users after the photo appeared online on Sunday evening.
Indian police officer Sandeep Mittal reacted on Twitter, asking, “Do you realise that this picture has potential of causing communal riots at a time when several States are going to Assembly Elections in India?”
He later added, “Even now an apology is not offered. Actually its (sic) a fit case for registration of a criminal case for attempt to destabilise (sic) the nation,” he said.
Twitter defended Dorsey on its official India page on Monday, saying a low-caste activist had “shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack”. The company added: “It is not a statement from Twitter or our CEO, but a tangible reflection of our company’s efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations that happen on our service around the world,” the company said.
Not everyone condemned the photo. One user posting as Prassant DeshPehle (country first) wrote: “Shame on you @jack. Hate against any community or group should be condemned. Spewing hate on one to please the other isn’t right.”
Others praised the Twitter boss for drawing attention to discrimination faced by Dalit communities and women in India, a conservative country of 1.25 billion. Ranjona Banerji wrote: “Dalit lynching and oppression, incidents of which we read about every other day, do not cause as much Twitter outrage as Jack Dorsey holding up a placard saying ‘End Brahmin Patriarchy’,”
South Asian historian Audrey Truschke also defended the gesture, saying: “My Twitter feed is full of elite men hyperventilating about Twitter CEO @jack holding a sign that calls out sex-based & caste-based discrimination in India.” She added: “Caste and sexism are real and virulent in modern India. If you want to be angry about something, let it be that reality,” she added.
Caste politics remains explosive in India. The centuries-old hierarchy has historically divided Hindus into classes beginning with Brahmins and ending with Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables”. Although the system has been officially abolished, it still shapes life in many rural areas, including where people live, who they marry and the work they do.
