Muslim boy in viral dance video faces backlash from extremists

Naveen and Janaki Omkumar, both medical students at Kerala’s Thrissur Medical College, uploaded a video on march 23 in which the two danced to Boney M’s 1980s hit ‘Rasputin’. Both the students became internet sensations after the video went viral, attracting much praise from within India and without.

However, once Naveen mentioned his full name, disclosing that he was a Muslim, Hindutva fanatics targeted the young student. Social media suddenly went ablaze with comments against Naveen, driven by Facebook posts written by Advocate Krishna Raj, who told Janaki’s parents to be “cautious”. Later, #LoveJihad started trending on twitter, led by tweets by Sanghis.

This dance by Naveen & Janaki, two students of Thrissur Medical College, went viral. Everyone liked it. Then in a TV show, Naveen said his full name--Naveen Razak. That was enough. All hell broke loose in the Malayalam Hindutva universe. They're now worried about 'dance jihad'. pic.twitter.com/mxsNh3S7Ms

— Stanly Johny (@johnstanly) April 8, 2021

 In reaction, fellow students of the college uploaded more videos on social media dancing to Rasputin.

Razak, however, reportedly responded to the communal criticism by saying that he is “not bothered” by it.

“We are the new generation,” he said in an interview.