MANGALURU: “Yekkur Moger Kallap Thokkot Pak Pak Pakisthaan...” the words on a meme with a photoshopped figure of a conductor on a bus footboard told a 1,000 words. This was one among the memes that have flooded cyberspace ever since a speech made by RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat comparing Ullal to Pakistan went viral. Bhat made the observation in the background of what he said was skewed demography of this area.
Mangaluru MLA U T Khader of the Congress was quick to thrash his bete noire’s innuendo that Ullal, an area that he represents, had become a Muslim dominated area. “Bhat has grown old and has conveniently forgotten the multicultural religious tolerance that Ullal is known for,” Khader shot back. While Khader was guarded yet unsparing in his criticism of Bhat, the netizens were at their creative best in burying the perceived slur under mountains of memes.
Incidentally, the photoshopped figure of the conductor bore the face of Bhat. Hashtags such as #kalladka_comedy abounded on social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp. City bus route number 44D that operates between SBI terminus and Ullal bore a caption – State Bank to Pakistan. Another meme portrayed Khader on the obverse of a $100 bill from the ‘United States of Ullala’ and not Benjamin Franklin seen on the original US greenback.
Another meme showed the iconic Ullal police station name board in Kannada read ‘Pakistani Police Tane’. A string of vehicles stationed on the Nethravathi bridge with policemen standing next to it, saw a meme creator insert the words ‘Passport checking at Ullal border’. Even Beary language memes of ‘Bajarangi Bhaijaan-2’ were seen on social media, showing Salman Khan rescue ‘Munni’ lost at Forum Mall, get back safely to her home Kotepura in Ullal.