How an Internet Joke Got Me Death Threats and Forced Me to Leave Town

Omer Ghazi raps under the name ‘MC Square’, the moniker born from his passion for physics, mathematics and rationalism. “This equation consists of energy and speed, elements I try to include when I perform,” he tells me. Being an Eminem and Tupac fan, he chose the musical genre because of its association with revolutionary change. “Hip-hop’s role in fighting racism and promoting ideas of social justice is immense.” Ghazi’s life changed on June 6 this year, though not in a way he had dreamt of. He, along with two other musicians from Aligarh, had gone to meet friends at a pub in Delhi. Joining them was an acquaintance they knew through social media. This acquaintance posted a photograph of their evening on Facebook. The picture showed beer bottles on the table where the group is seated, with the caption: "Iftari with musical stalwarts of Aligarh Muslim University. By Allah's grace made three lapsed Sunni's have Madira tonight (sic)… " The post also had a distorted version of the proclamation ‘Allahu Akbar’.

Nobody cared. At first. When it got noticed, it led to a string of events which resulted in Ghazi and his friends receiving death threats, a political witch-hunt in their town, national headlines, and finally culminating in him leaving his home city. Two days after the Facebook post had gone up, Ghazi received a call from a friend saying that the screenshot of that joke was being circulated on WhatsApp by student leaders of Aligarh Muslim University—his alma mater. “I didn’t take it seriously as I hadn’t written it. I was just there.” But the messages didn’t stop. “There were calls warning me that people were looking to hunt me down. I was terrified.” A graduate in Mathematics, Ghazi had been a public speaker, writer and rap artist—a student heavily engrossed in his university's cultural activities. His family had been associated with the institution for generations. “My grandfather established the theology department. He was the one who led the funeral prayers for Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of the university.” As the issue kept escalating, Ghazi came to know that a few students, leaders of religious organisations and union leaders were furious that he and his friends had gone to the pub in the pious month of Ramadan, considering it insulting to the sanctity of Islam and the traditions of Aligarh. In a much publicised event, an FIR was filed against everyone who was present at the party, with allegations of hurting religious sentiments under IPC 295 (A)—an act notorious for its use in blasphemy cases. In the following days, Ghazi was surprised by the change of attitude in people around him, some who he used to consider friends. “The people with whom I used to hang out were suddenly hating me like an enemy,” he tells me, adding that he felt betrayed. “The juniors at the cultural clubs whom I taught to play guitar, debate and write were messaging me: Jab tak tum jail nahi jaoge, hum haar nahin manenge. (We will relent only after you are imprisoned).” And then came the death threats. From that entire group, Ghazi was the only one who lived in Aligarh at the time. “There were people urging in Facebook comments to behead all of us. Someone wrote: Tezeeb ko bachana hai to in aasteen ke saapon ko kaatna hoga. (We need to cull these snakes to save our culture).” When his home address began circulating in these threads, Ghazi decided to leave his city, spending some time in Delhi before heading to Mumbai where his relatives live. In Mumbai for the last five months, he has been trying to build a career in rap music, paying his bills with money earned from freelance content writing and event management. Having been a part of crews and bands like Seedlings and Indian Cypher Unity, Ghazi is adept at playing musical instruments like drums, djembe, tambourine and conga . But it is rap that is closest to his heart. “I write, compose and sing my songs. Recently, I got an offer to be a drum instructor at a prestigious music school in Mumbai."

As he looks back on the whole episode, Ghazi believes that not everything about it was negative. “Amidst the hate, I also got an equal number of calls and messages to inquire about my well-being. A section inside AMU also stood for us despite the possibility of being threatened.” He describes his overall feeling as that of “being caught between extreme levels of love and hate”. He still misses his home city and hopes to go back after things have calmed down. “Aligarh has been the place where I grew up and always felt comfortable in. I also have some friends there who I would cherish forever.” But he does think that his coerced move to Mumbai expanded his horizon, and got him more opportunities. “Though I had to change cities and leave my job, I think it has taught me lessons that I’d carry with me all my life.”

In the long run, he plans to pursue higher studies in western philosophy or political science from a university outside India.

On the joke that ultimately led to the issue, he believes that everyone has the right to express themselves unless it can lead to incitement of violence. “I think it’s pretty foolish to take offence at cartoons, memes and jokes on social media. If you don’t like something, why can’t you just ignore it and move on?”

Follow Zeyad Masroor Khan on Twitter.