Remember seeing a picture of saffron ‘Lord Hanuman’ with an angry, intense expression on his face on car bumpers, scooters, windows and every other vehicle in most parts of the country? Well, now you can buy a personalized T-Shirt with the same picture on it, all credits to an online retail store.
The image of Lord Hanuman went on the streets on the occasion of ‘Hanuman Jayanti’ and presented him in a whole new avatar. His angry face, furrowed eyebrows and intense eyes portrayed a different picture. Even the colors used in the stickers were dark and powerful.
As the stickers were being used by the people in various places, an online news portal named ‘The Wire’ published an article on the rising popularity of the sticker. However, the article failed to receive a positive feedback from the readers and was slammed mercilessly for transforming Lord Hanuman from a ‘benign’ to an aggressive ‘destroyer’. In the article, the writer said:
“The Bajrang Dal has reincarnated a new version of Hanuman to reach out to this youth brigade; to give them a Hindu icon to be proud of, a more aggressive version of the god they already revere.”
While the writer atrociously tried to solicit the myth of ‘Militant Hinduism’ through her narrative of the chants of ‘Jai Hanuman’ and ‘Jai Ram’ by the ‘elite’ people that she referred to in her article, The Wire became the victim of massive Twitter aggression against her article.
India is a country where a sticker of Hanuman is a symbol of Hindu militancy but AK 47 wielding “misguided youth” have “no religion”!
I request every one to report this tweet by @thewire_in .
Plzz tweet Hanuman ji stories with hashtag #BajrangiTwitter in support. https://t.co/djIjqUV5VJ— Ashish Kumar Tripathi (@hotterOrbit) April 6, 2018
If you @thewire_in cannot tolerate a simple sketch of Hanuman then don’t talk about Intolerance. The more you want to defame Hindus, the more they unite. Thank you for your dirty trick. #BajrangiTwitter.
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) April 6, 2018
#BajrangiTwitter
In Hanuman Chalisa the word Chalisa is derived from chalis means number forty n it has 40 verses.Thook on those who for political greed,insulting Hanumanji.@thewire_in a lier n lier @nilanjanab is a blot on humanity n as a Bengali,I feel ashamed of her evil deed— Durga (@durga_sata) April 6, 2018
Bashing Hindu Gods have become a trend these days
Criticize our Gods in the name of Atheism
Whereas for other religions it is not applicable #BajrangiTwitter pic.twitter.com/96S4bmF0g3— Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) April 6, 2018
First they demean your religion, then they laugh at you by calling you diety a mythological monkey then the same mythological monkey turns real and becomes a militant to scare them. #BajrangiTwitter pic.twitter.com/ZABsoUwFHh
— 🦁 (@AndColorPockeT) April 6, 2018
With context to the controversy splattered by the news portal, an online outlet named ‘T-Shirt Bhaiya’ started a new range of T-Shirts with the same image of Lord Hanuman on it.
The online retail store, TshirtBhaiya.com was launched by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (Delhi Unit). While the Hanuman T-Shirt design was launched recently by the company, they are offering free Hanuman flags with every T-Shirt as well. The thought behind the free flag is to increase the reach of Lord Hanuman to every house.
The online fashion outlet took all the spotlight when they called out ‘The Wire’ on social media platform with a tweet crediting them for the ‘idea’ behind the ‘Hanuman’ T-Shirt.
Hey @thewire_in ab Har Ghar par Lagega Hanuman Flag and Its Free with Every T-Shirt. Credit goes to you, book now at https://t.co/BMbplNsnzE #HarGharPeHanuman pic.twitter.com/Vxxz5gPLRy
— TShirtBhaiya.Com (@TShirtBhaiya) April 11, 2018
The t-shirt design was openly praised by the social media users:
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 this Is a big big slap on @thewire_in who popularised #JaiHanuman
Next time they will popularize JaiSriRam too 😂— Akaash🇮🇳 (@akaash111) April 11, 2018
Lag gye @thewire_in ko to lg gye 440 volt @TShirtBhaiya k T-shirt banane se 😂😂
— Ritu JaiHind🇮🇳 (@AsNoOneCanWish) April 11, 2018
Isse kehte hai keh ke lunga….Jaise Hanuman ji ne Lanka jalai waise aap log @thewire_in ki jala rahe ho!!!!😜🤣🙏
— KK2KK (@kartik_sawarkar) April 11, 2018
Ouch, what will the wailing banshees from @thewire_in do now – sulk or sully Hindus more? #PasstheburnoltoWireplease https://t.co/19a93taktf
— Veda (@Vedanshi_) April 11, 2018
I’ve ordered mine not only because I love the design but also because it will most definitely annoy a lot of ‘seculars’ out there! https://t.co/faNGaZsqC4
— Avani Bidwalkar (@avanibidwalkar) April 11, 2018
The image was originally created by Karan Acharya in Kumble village, Kerala in 2015. He drew that image at the request of the youngsters of the village who asked him for something to put on the flags for the occasion of Ganesh Chathurthi. To the amazement of Karan, the image somehow got viral and ended up at the windows and bumpers of cars and bikes.
