1. Not only were the Indians offended by the title of the Bollywood film Laxmmi Bomb, but they also called it out for promoting ‘love jihad’.

Several Hindu outfits showed resentment against the original title Laxmmi Bomb saying that it hurt religious sentiments insulting Goddess Laxmi. Following this, the title of the movie was changed to Laxmii. The movie was also seen as promoting love jihad after it showed the lead actors as Hindu and Muslim.

2. After border clashes between India and China, people launched a campaign to boycott Chinese goods in India.

While the government also pledged to block investments from China, people took to social media to urge everyone to boycott Chinese products.

3. An advertisement showing a Hindu girl married into a Muslim family, irked people leading to boycott calls on social medis.

Leading Indian jewellery brand, Tanishq, had to take down the ad under pressure after #BoycottTanishq trended on social media.

4. Comedian Agrima Joshua received rape threats because someone was offended by a few jokes in her stand-up video.

In one of her sets, she made some jokes with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s upcoming statue in the Arabian Sea, as the premise.

5. A Tanishq advertisement promoting Diwali without firecrackers amid the pandemic was taken down by the brand after being called ‘anti-Hindu’.

6. Farmers protesting against the controversial farm laws have been called ‘Khalistani’.

BJP has also alleged that the Khalistani agenda is being propagated under the garb of the Punjab farmers’ agitation.

7. Ban of firecrackers by several states, ahead of Diwali, was termed ‘anti-Hindu’.

Calling the ban as an attack on Hinduism, spokespersons of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Swadeshi Jagran Manch opposed the ban on firecrackers imposed by the NGT. They also said that the use of crackers is deeply linked with Diwali celebration and Hindu traditions.

8. A group of anti-CAA protesters outside the Jamia University campus were dealt with brutally by the police.

These protesters were marching towards the parliament to show their resentment against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

9. A section of Indians were outraged over a kissing scene in a temple from Netflix’s A Suitable Boy.

A kissing scene from Mira Nair’s Netflix show A Suitable Boy kicked up a social media storm for purportedly promoting ‘love jihad’. The scene shows a Hindu character Lata Mehra kissing her interfaith lover inside the premises of a temple.

10. A YouTube channel added sindoor to Anushka Sharma’s Diwali pics because why leave any chance to shame women for not wearing society-approved suhaag ki nishani.

11. Indians lashed out at rapper Cardi B for posing as Goddess Durga in an ad promoting her debut sneaker collection with Reebok.

The advertisement shows Cardi B as a warrior woman with eight hands while holding a bright red pair of sneakers. The thing that did not sit well with most people is the fact that Cardi B was wearing an outfit that revealed a lot of her cleavage.

12. #BoycottTIME became a thing because PM Modi’s supporters weren’t happy with the TIME magazine’s description of him in their list of Most Influential People of 2020.

Oh and some were also angered because Bilkis Dadi of Shaheen Bagh was included in the list.

13. TV actor Divya Agarwal received hate messages for posting pics on social media post her father’s demise.

Disappointed on the reaction, Divya shared:

I really don’t know what to say. Why do I have to feel guilty about moving on? My dad, my loss, my way of handling. It’s sad to see people still want to demean you in such situations. Maybe the world is so toxic right now. They only want to see people cry.

14. Opposition leaders were trolled for questioning the PM Cares Fund created to collect donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

15. A Muslim mob in Bengaluru burnt down the house of a Congress MLA and set fire to a police station as they took offence to a Facebook post making fun of Prophet Mohammed.

The mob attacked Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhand Srinivasa Murthy’s house after his nephew allegedly put up a communally sensitive post on social media. 

16. Twitter users labelled Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Basu as ‘Hindu-phobic’ for some ‘offensive’ scenes in his latest movie Ludo.

One of those scenes features actor Rajkumar Rao dressed as Surpanakha, while acting in Ramlila, that ends with abuses and a fight.

17. Food delivery app Swiggy was embroiled in a controversy for responding to a satirical post concerning the ongoing protests by farmers.

18. Before Swiggy, Zomato also irked social media users for responding to Swara Bhasker’s demand to stop advertising on Republic TV.

People were angered with this response of Zomato and warned it against taking any action.

Anything that was in contradiction to our pre-established ideas of traditions and comfort offended us, while we remained desensitised to the things that actually matter. The presence of social media further added fuel to the fire and made it a toxic place, at times.