Twitter is a battleground. It is also home for some genuine wit and humour. It is a place where anyone gets to ask valid questions and can find answers – but then runs the risk of being mercilessly trolled. It is also a place for ribbing, as we found following China naming some places in Arunachal Pradesh.
In what appears aimed at domestic propaganda, at best for purposes of international sabre-rattling, China renamed some places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. In 2017 this was done as a reaction to the Dalai Lama visiting the Indian state. This time around, they have ‘renamed’ eight towns, some rivers, mountains and a mountain pass.
Such renaming is a reasonably pointless exercise – a little like an evil uncle deciding to change my name and insisting that the sofa in my home henceforth be called a door. I will continue to have the same name and the people of Arunachal will take little notice of Chinese name-changing proclamations.
On Twitter Indian handles decided to do some renaming of their own so Beijing became Bhujang Nagar and so on.
This one was obvious – many people have suggested naming the novel coronavirus as the Wuhan virus before as well. Someone else also suggested Kitaanu Pradesh
These were the suggested new names for Beijing, Shanghai, Macaw, Wuhan, and Xinjiang.
The Chinese are a thin-skinned lot – they cannot tolerate any criticism or fun poked at their national leader. Sounds familiar?
Remember how Michael Jackson was Ma Kali Jai Kishan? The tweeple thought up more of this.
A handle of the Chinese state-affiliated media tweeted this video claiming to be a Chinese flag being hoisted on New Year Day 2022 at the Galwan Valley.
Many responded by asking how anyone is to know that this is indeed Galwan as claimed. They also pointed out how there was so little snow supposedly in the dead of winter. This reply went on to overlay the audio with the Indian national anthem.
Tiananmen Square is synonymous with state brutality and one of the most horrific human rights violations by authorities against its own citizens. Is that really what China wants to project?
ANI tweeted these pictures to demonstrate Indian presence in the area.
In spite of the extremely provocative post from the Chinese handle, there has been no response from the government. In the past the government has rushed to censure an Australian publication that carried a piece critical of the PM, so this seems strange.
The BJP’s own MP Subramanian Swamy has been asking questions about Chinese incursions into Indian territory earlier in 2021. We still don’t know what happened as a result of the clashes between Indian and Chinese forces over the past year. Was there a Chinese incursion? Was Indian territory occupied? Was it returned? The government has remained tightlipped on this. There have been 'leaks' but no official specific clarification. For a government known to tom-tom achievements big and small from the rooftops, for a regime known for its effective messaging, this is more than a little strange.
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