Humans of Hindutva: Founder calls curtains on popular Facebook satire page

The satirical Facebook page Humans of Hindutva, known for its jibes at the right wing and the current socio-political situation in India, has been deactivated by its founder. The popular Facebook page’s anonymous administrator posted a farewell message on 9 September, which said: “I’m tired of explaining the intention behind my words again and again and again. Your interaction with me has opened up a side inside that I didn’t even know existed but in the bargain it has exhausted me no end. So I bid you goodbye. Cheers.”

A few months ago, in a conversation with _Firstpost_ , the admin explained how the idea of setting up the parody page came into being. “I went with the name because, despite being a Hindu, I’m disgusted with the saffron brigade and the way they are trying to spread their regressive ideas through communal and religious propaganda. Many commenters on the page ask why I didn’t start a Humans of Islam or Humans of Christianity. That’s the equivalent of going to a Mexican restaurant and asking why the chef doesn’t serve biryani. What I’m serving should be clear from the name of the page. The page is not against Hinduism but against the people who twist it for their nefarious purposes,” he said. On being asked about the objective behind the page, the admin told us, “I seriously have no intention to sermonise. I started this page mainly to make myself laugh. If some of the posts seem in poor taste, then it’s because the retrograde ideas that those posts ridicule are in poor taste to begin with. Besides, if you’re more offended with an obvious joke on casteism than you are with actual casteism then you need to set your priorities straight. Some of my favourite writers like Hunter S Thompson, Joseph Heller, Chuck Palahniuk, John Kennedy Toole and Kurt Vonnegut didn’t pull any punches. I get my general understanding of satire from them. Over time I’ve learnt that humour is a better way to deal with issues than anger.” The page had previously been temporarily blocked by Facebook. The Humans of Hindutva admin’s decision comes just days after the recent assassination of Bengaluru-based senior journalist Gauri Lankesh.