Tejasvi Surya’s 2015 tweet draws criticism on social media

BENGALURU: A 2015 tweet posted and since deleted by Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya returned to haunt him for the second time in two years after its screenshot went viral in Gulf countries.
Surya had reportedly tweeted about Arab women’s sexual life when he was a student. He removed the tweet when it created a furore after he was given a ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

On Sunday, the screenshot of Surya’s deleted post was widely circulated on Twitter hours after PM Modi tweeted: “Covid-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking.Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together.”
On Monday, Modi’s tweet was tagged with Surya’s tweet by Arab nationals, who asked the PM to initiate action against the MP. By evening, it was trending with 15,000 shares and comments.
Surya clarified that in the tweet, he had shared the statement from an interview of Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author Tarek Fatah on female genital mutilation.
Mejbel al-Sharika, a Kuwaiti lawyer and director of International Human Rights, shared the screenshot of the tweet and wrote: “Dear @Twitter, this Indian politicians @Tejasvi_Surya has racially slurred Arab women, I wonder how is his account still active? Is it not against Twitter's official policy? Please act as Arab sentiment has been badly wounded (sic).”
Similar sentiments were shared by Abdur Rahman Nassar, a Kuwaiti intellectual who tagged Modi.
Last week, an account in the name of Saurabh Upadhyay had put out several tweets targeting Muslims over the March congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi.
“The ruling family is friends with Indians, but as a royal your rudeness is not welcome,” wrote Princess Hend al-Qassimi, a member of the UAE royal family, on Twitter, referring to both the countries’ warm relations and Islamophobic attacks. “All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed,” the Princess said.