‘Humans of Hindutva page will not return’

Author behind popular Facebook page says it would be stupid to ignore death threats

Better safe than sorry: The Facebook page which was closed down after its author received death threats.

Eight months after starting Humans of Hindutva, a Facebook page, the administrator deleted the page after receiving a threat call from an anonymous international number on December 30.

The Facebook page started in April 2017 was known for its satire and humorous take on political issues. The administrator said that he started the page after he got into a heated argument with a nationalist friend. He said, “I came across this page called Humans of New York and thought it will be interesting to put the views of my friend in a humorous way in the same format.”

The administrator, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said initially his posts did not pick up pace. He said, “For the first month, I was just figuring out my style of writing. It was after a post on actor Ryan Gosling that referred to him as

Uttam Santati, a child customised by RSS, that the page grew in popularity. The next day, I woke up to 10,000 new followers.”

According to the administrator, who is in his mid-30s and runs a five-year-old startup, the followers kept growing and it gave him a push to keep writing. “The page also received some invited attention of extremists. That is when I received my first death threat in form of a comment.”

Following a series of threats, he was forced to move residences and change his contact number. He said, “I have received threats in the past, but for the first time someone called me on my phone and threatened to kill me. I grew worried about my family’s security. That is why I do not plan on reviving the page and have given it up.”

However, this is not the first time the administrator has deactivated the page. He first called it quits for a few days in September last year saying it was not worth taking a bullet for. He recalled that it was right after Gauri Lankesh’s shooting and that he was concerned about his family’s safety. “I decided to revive it after several people wrote about how much the page meant to them.”

He said, “This time I have decided to not return. I have received some threats which I would be stupid to ignore. I have complained to the police.” The administrator said that he bought a domain address from an individual. He said, “Some people were able to track the original owner of that domain and sent threatening emails to him first. I suspect that they got my number and address from him or the domain company.”