Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has "defective DNA" and "has to prove" she is Indian, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij was quoted by news agency ANI today, as the social and political fallout of Pakistan's T20 World Cup group stage win over India on Sunday becomes nastier.
Responding to Ms Mufti's tweet from yesterday - in which the PDP chief questioned the backlash against Kashmiris celebrating Pakistan's victory - Mr Vij reportedly said: "Mehbooba Mufti's DNA is defective... she has to prove how much of an Indian she is..."
A few hours earlier he had tweeted: "The DNA of those who burst crackers in India when Pakistan wins a cricket match cannot be Indian. Be careful from the traitors hiding in your house."
Yesterday Ms Mufti tweeted: "Why such anger against Kashmiris for celebrating Pak's win? Some are even chanting murderous slogans - 'desh ke gadaaron ko goli maaro', or 'shoot traitors'."
"One hasn't forgotten how many celebrated by distributing sweets when J&K was dismembered and stripped of special status (in August 2019). Lets agree to disagree and take it in the right spirit, like Virat Kohli, who was the first to congratulate the Pakistani cricket team," she wrote.
Pakistan's 10 wicket win over India at Dubai has triggered a wave of vicious attacks and abuse online, with bowler Mohammed Shami a particular target; Mr Shami had a bad game (as all athletes and sportspersons do on occasion) conceding 43 runs in 23 balls.
The win also triggered allegations of violence at an engineering college in Punjab's Sangrur, where a group of Kashmiri students claimed they were assaulted by people from Uttar Pradesh.
The alleged attackers claimed the Kashmiris were supporting the Pakistan team.
The slogan Ms Mufti referred to 'desh ke gadaaron ko goli maaro' made headlines last year after Union Minister Anurag Thakur was caught on video while campaigning for the Delhi election.
Mr Thakur, against whom hate speech allegations were made, could be seen and heard shouting "desh ke gaddaron ko...", to which the crowd responds "...goli maaro sa***n ko".
Days later a man shot at people peacefully protesting the citizenship law, injuring a student.
The same slogan was also heard during the horrific attack on students and staff of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University that same month; 34 people were injured then.
These incidents - the trolling of Mr Shami and the alleged attack on Kashmiri students - have been seen as underlining the aggressive, intolerant and hyper-nationalist ideology that now seems to have influenced almost every sphere of daily life, including abuse of consumer and clothing brands.
This week Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra threatened consumer giant Dabur with legal action over an ad that seemed to promote same-sex marriages, and clothing brand Fabindia was pilloried for using an Urdu term to describe a new collection.
With input from ANI
