A self-proclaimed Yoga teacher, Ira Trivedi, had recently become the centre of a major controversy as it came to light that she ran a show at the national broadcaster, Doordarshan. The controversy erupted after her 2017 interview with News18 went viral on social media. In that interview, Ira Trivedi had described beef as the ‘cheapest source of protein’. This comment was made in reference to the beef ban.
Apart from being an utterly wrong statement, it must be noted that this issue has been closely connected with the sentiments of the Hindu community. The Yoga teacher went on to elaborate further about beef in her interview and said that in a country with a huge problem of malnutrition, it would be unfair to take away the cheapest source of protein, for many communities, especially the Muslim community. Twitter users pointed out these remarks as anti-Hindu and wondered what Ira Trivedi was doing at Doordarshan, the country’s national broadcaster as a Yoga teacher.
Her comments in 2017 had caused a furore, however, Ira Trivedi soon came out with a tweet in which she seemed to have made an attempt to make up for the beef comment. She tweeted, “Everyone. I want to clarify a few things. Firstly I am a strict vegetarian and I strongly advocate and promote a vegetarian diet to all those practising yoga. Those following me on Instagram have seen my advocacy of a vegetarian diet.”
Her comments on Hinduism, from an old tweet, also met criticism from all quarters. In the tweet, she had said, “The Quran is a deeply progressive text! Modern day Hinduism is deeply regressive.” However, Ira Trivedi after losing out on the Doordarshan show following resistance on social media came out and questioned the authenticity of her statements on Hinduism and tweeted “I would like to clarify that this tweet below does NOT EXIST on my twitter time line. There is no DATE on this tweet, there is no SOURCE of this tweet. Anyone circulating this is party to a hate/smear campaign by trolls. Where did it come from? @TwitterIndia please take note.”
Yoga doesn't cure idiocy, hence proved.. https://t.co/aZzeQKmFPa
— The Frustrated Indian (@FrustIndian) July 28, 2019
However, the users on social media were fast to respond to her sleight of hand and put a mirror in front of her regarding her insensitive and illogical comments.
Twitter user Ankur Singh not only posted the link of the deleted tweet, but along with it he also posted links of people who had cited that tweet and also attached a screenshot which had both date and time. He tweeted:
Here's the link of the tweet which you deleted- https://t.co/h1lFYf7fah
Also here are the tweets of people who quoted your tweet https://t.co/9ADaV1UcGb
Also here's the screenshot with date and time. pic.twitter.com/HMV35zliyJ
— Ankur Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@iAnkurSingh) July 28, 2019
Another twitter user firmly pointed out the underlying hypocrisy and ignorance in Ira Trivedi’s tweet and said, “Never seen a shameless Liar than you. You have never hide your Hinduphobia as long as it never faced any scrutiny. such Liar isn’t good for a reputed organisation like @DDNewsLive @DDNewsHindi. Take a call asap”
https://twitter.com/squintneon/status/1155487524594184192?s=19
Some users also called her out with a touch of humor, looking at the childish tweet in which she tries to wash off any responsibility of her comments.
Ira trivedi ji itna aasan nahi hai 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ochKSjyB45
— Param|PCS 🇮🇳 (@FunMauji) July 28, 2019
I also deeply cherish, respect and live by Hindu Dharma, please ignore any screenshots of tweets that may have been taken out of context. I respect all religions and texts, but Hinduism is at the heart of my practice.
— Ira Trivedi (@iratrivedi) July 25, 2019
For Ira Trivedi and all other Hinduphobic pseudo-liberals, this exchange is just another link in the long chain of issues, where they have been exposed, even if they came about pushing white lies. Following the massive controversy, Ira Trivedi had also made an attempt to take a U-turn with a standard retraction statement. She tweeted, “I also deeply cherish, respect and live by Hindu Dharma, please ignore any screenshots of tweets that may have been taken out of context. I respect all religions and texts, but Hinduism is at the heart of my practice.” However, much to her dismay, Twitter users did not really accept her apology and rightly so.
