Two contradictory hashtags #BoycottShahRukhKhan and#SRKPrideofIndia have been trending on microblogging platform Twitter, which often witnesses such boycott calls, all Thursday morning. Boycott Shah Rukh Khan was trending with 44.8 K tweets while the favouring hashtag ‘SRK Pride of India’ is flooded with 69.8 K tweets at the time of writing this article.
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The first trend, #BoycottShahRukhKhan calls for a complete boycott of veteran Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who enjoys a huge fan base both in India and overseas. The trend is believed to be led by BJP’s State In-Charge of Information Technology Department in Haryana, Arun Yadav.
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While the reason behind the trend is unclear, tweets under the pool accuse the actor of siding with Pakistan. Most of these tweets carry Islamophobic slurs. See some reactions here!
Meanwhile, a section of social media users is also demanding the boycott in response to the untimely demise of Sushant Singh Rajput who, Twitter users feel was a victim of nepotism and power play. Social media users say that SRK never took a clear stand for the late actor and this upsets them.
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The other trending hashtag that reads #SRKPrideofIndia #weloveSRK and #SRKlove mostly carries tweets from the fans of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. This group is coming out in support of the actor and asking people to not differentiate between the artists on the basis of religion.
Some of these supporters are giving threats and warnings of consequences to the other group tweeting against the star.
However, this is not the first time such trends are topping Twitter. In fact, boycott hashtags have become some of the most common social media campaigns these days.
Some weeks back, #BoycottSalmanKhan made it big on Twitter with over 34K tweets as he completed 33 years in Bollywood as an actor.
Just like Shah Rukh Khan, the Salman trends also carried tweets asking for justice for late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and accused Khan of not supporting and bullying the star when he was alive.
