India. A land where language, caste, and culture probably change at every 100 km (or even less). And therein lies its strength, the glorious exemplar of 'Unity in Diversity.' Religious differences have time and again plagued our society, but we now have a powerful medium to unite our voices and echo as a whole one - social media.
Twitter users unified their forces under a trending hashtag 'Talk to a Muslim' on Tuesday and lent their support to nip off the alleged 'Islamophobia' that houses minds, and obstructs a better future. Joining the movement (of sorts) were actresses Swara Bhasker and Gauahar Khan.
Gauahar backed the trending hashtag and tweeted, "#TalkToAMuslim seriously didn't think a day would come where talking to a muslim leader or a commoner would question ur patriotism or ur belief in ur own faith!!by land I am a Hindu ,by faith I am a Muslim and by heart n soul INDIAN is my identity !!! #killThehate #spreadlove"
[embed]https://twitter.com/GAUAHAR_KHAN/status/1019180781854515200[/embed]
Meanwhile, Swara retweeted many of the tweets under the hashtag #TalkToAMuslim. "YES. A hundred times yes. #India will not succumb to hate. #TalkToAMuslim RT Share and participate guys ! Let’s spread the message of love and peace," read one of her posts.
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019179702228017153[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019181612854984709[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019182250506608641[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019183112452915201[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019183806488735744[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1019204449686966277[/embed]
Earlier, communities in the United Kingdom had received violent threats, in a letter, that April 3 would be marked as 'Punish a Muslim Day.' The hashtag came to life after these recipients and several others addressed the issues, responding to it. A leading news agency reports that the phrase 'Punish a Muslim' was coined in an anonymous letter distributed to some homes and businesses in east London, the Midlands and Yorkshire in May.