Filmmaker and CBFC member Vivek Agnihotri sparked a social media war on Thursday, after he tweeted that he once saw a grandson of a dalit leader in a Business Class seat in a plane while he himself, a Brahmin, was seated in the Economy Class and remarked that the "pyramid is inverted". His tweets come in the backdrop of caste violence in Maharashtra over the issue of Bhima-Koregaon.
The remarks sparked a highly polarised debate on Twitter. Could one dalit luminary travelling in Business Class negate the injustice and oppression faced by the community only because of their identity? Others pointed out that Agnihotri was putting forth a very vaild point and his words were twisted and taken out of context. "What I wrote was nuanced. It means that in 2018, real dalits are those who don’t have money or power. And upper caste are those with money and power. Also, being a Brahmin doesn’t mean you are powerful and oppressor," he tweeted.
Sometime ago, on a flight I saw a great Dalit leader’s grandson sitting on 1A, business class and I wrote this in notes. Just found. pic.twitter.com/NaEW2bGnkC
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) January 3, 2018
The most forceful reaction came from acclaimed filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan, who said that he won a Cannes award without using his dalit identity.
I am a Dalit. I won the Cannes film award for our country. Also the Cannes advertising award. I won the National award & the Filmfare award. All without using my Dalit identity. And yes, I fly business class now and I will offer you my seat next time you’re on the same plane. pic.twitter.com/i2kfuqpwCi
— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) January 3, 2018
Even a former BJP MP weighed in with criticism.
I salute the spirit of @ghaywan. Live a life. Live a day of a Dalit before commenting this way @vivekagnihotri I worked as RSS worker in tribal area for five yrs & for dalits-I know what it means to be a tribal and a Dalit.Kindly dont go for the generalizations. @rupasubramanya
— Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) January 3, 2018
You can cherry pick individual examples of prosperous Dalits @vivekagnihotri but doesn't change the fact that Dalits as a group are lagging behind on economic and other social indicators. pic.twitter.com/37VbmMa8SU
— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) January 4, 2018
How dare a Dalit travel first class
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) January 4, 2018
pic.twitter.com/Oxk7P9aw0F
Then there were those who came out in support of Agnihotri.
U missed the context in @vivekagnihotri 's tweet
— Ratan Nura (@pknurababa) January 3, 2018
India needs to abolish the caste divide #PositiveIndia
Are you being stupid on purpose? He wasn't "cherry picking" an example to show the general state of the entire community. He was just saying that some people should not be able to call themselves "Dalits" (oppressed) since they're socially and economically liberated.
— Dushyant (@desibrah) January 4, 2018
Yes, thanks for proving @vivekagnihotri's point so brilliantly! https://t.co/bPIBSYCQ0s
— Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) January 4, 2018
