Netizens Call Kerala Tourism ‘Anti-Hindu’ after it Tweets Beef Dish Recipe on Makar Sankranti
Kerala(News 18) : Kerala Tourism was in for some trolling on social media Wednesday after it decided to share the recipe of a beef dish on a day that incidentally happened to be the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti.
The official Twitter handle of Kerala Tourism shared an image of a “beef ularthiyathu”, a traditional dish from the state that of made using “tender chunks of beef, slow-roasted with aromatic spices, coconut pieces, and curry leaves”.
Calling the dish a “classic”, Kerala Tourism addressed the dish as the “stuff of legends from the land of spices, Kerala”.
It further shared a link to the recipe on the corresponding page of the Kerala Tourism website which has an exhaustive list of recipes of classic Kerala cuisine.
However, the post did not sit well with many on social media. Right-wingers instantly noted that the image was shared on Makar Sankranti or Maghi, a Hindu festival devoted to the worship of the the deity Surya. Trolls were quick to accuse Kerala Tourism’s twitter handle of indulging in communalism and willful insult of Hindus on a day auspicious to them.
Some even threatened to stop visiting Kerala altogether.
Angry netizens accused the page of deliberately maligning Hindus, who do not consume beef as it is forbidden by their religion. But the anger soon took a communal turn when trolls started asking Kerala Tourism’s page to post images of pork instead, which is forbidden in Islam.
Nevertheless, the post has over 7,000 likes and counting and is probably one of the most popular tweets on Kerala Tourism’s page ever.
However, many came to Kerala Tourism’s defense, claiming that in Kerala, people ate both pork and beef equally.
Kerala Tourism’s website also includes recipes for pork dishes including ‘pork peralan’ and ‘pork with lala ularthiyathu’.
While Kerala Tourism’s tweet may have been a coincidence, the bigotry displayed my certain sections of social media surely isn’t.