Hyderabad: A prominent right-wing influencer, identified as 30-year-old Yash (@Smokingskills07 on X), who would create memes on Palestinian children with offensive captions, was found dead on October 29. He reportedly died due to a heart attack.
The memes created by him were being shared widely by the members of other Hindutva outfits.
Since the fresh escalations began in Hamas-Israel conflict on October 7, there has been a spike in the anti-Palestine misinformation being spread on social media by right-wing trolls, with most inclined towards Islamophobic prejudices.
Using rhetorical captions and memes, the social media posts don’t only target the Palestinian Muslims, but also Indian Muslims.
In one of his hateful memes, Yash had used a picture of a minor Palestinian boy, who was severely wounded in Israel airstrike. “Fair and lovely meter,” he wrote on the picture.
In another post, he had also used photos of disfigured body of a Palestinian child, and wrote “Extra paya lana (get extra legs).”
Following his heart attack on October 29, many right-wing social media users began to grieve and offer tribute for his “unapologetic Hindutva”.
Stop spreading hate: Netizens
After his demise, netizens appealed to people to be kind and ‘stop spreading hate’.
Yesterday that abuser was making fun of “broken legs of Palestine victim” by saying “ek pav aur lana'” wrote one user.
“IAS Smoking Skills died today… Life is unexpected… Be kind… Don’t spread hatred,” wrote another user.
Another user wrote “Karma hits hard.. Smoking Skills is a perfect example.”
“Sanghis are so vile they might start justice for @Smokingskills07 and blame everything on others with the intention of spreading communal hatred,” wrote another user.
“This guy, IAS Smoking skills, who made fun of Palestinians is no more. May His soul rest in peace. Life is full of circles n Karma is so unpredictable. Be kind and respectful to each other,” said another X user.
“Smoking skills is no more💔 he’ll be always missed as a hatemonger,” wrote another user.
Others pay tribute
However, there were many other users who began to grieve and offer tributes to the deceased.
In his series of posts on X, one Hindutva supporter paid tribute to the person and wrote, “Got a very shocking & sad news of the passing away of somkingskills”.
Nupur J Sharma, editor-in-chief of the far-wing “media house” Op India also expressed his shock and wrote, “Truly speechless. I pray he travels well and finds place at Mahadev’s feet. OM Shanti.”
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala also tributed to right-wing influencer and wrote on X: “Deeply saddened by the passing away of @Smokingskills07 But his untimely death has once again exposed the true face of rabid radicalism (sic).”
Spike in hateful content since Israel-Hamas war
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, the entire right-wing in India has sided with Israel on the basis of their mutual hatred for Muslims.
Recently, a prominent right-wing media person and head of Sudarshan TV, Suresh Chavhanke, in his show expressed support for Israel and went on to say that Yahudi (Jews) were actually Hindus from Yadav caste.
Chavhanke has nearly 50 FIR filed against him for openly calling for genocide of Muslims and using objectionable words for Muslim women. However, he was never arrested because of his close association with BJP leaders.
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