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Announcing the arrest of 25-year-old Anumkareshwar Thakur in the āSulli dealsā case on Sunday, Delhi Police said he was part of ātradā groups online ā the first time a law enforcement agency has used the term, which has come to denote a group of individuals who are part of groups on Telegram, Reddit, 4chan and Discord devoted to targeting Dalits, Muslims and women.
This is echoed by a 23-year-old student who is a member of several such groups: āMost members are upper casteā¦ well readā¦ and operate and interact only virtually. Talks often revolve around the shastras, āsanatan dharmā, Brahminical supremacy.ā
Most of the platforms are rife with casteist slurs, abuse aimed at Ambedkar, and talk of replacing the Constitution with the Manusmriti. Islamophobia also figures heavily in such groups, many of which have been deleted since police investigation turned its attention towards them.
Several memes shared on the group, such as āPepe the Frogā, and the language used draw heavily from the American alt-right, including the term ātradā itself.
According to police, the group Thakur was part of was called the āTradmahasabhaā. He joined it on Twitter in January 2020, with an idea to troll Muslim women. āHe was a member of several Trad groups that are now closed,ā said an officer. One of the Twitter accounts he operated was called āsigmatradā.
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