Often, innocuous-seeming symbols are encrypted with coded messages. For instance, in the United States, a hangman's noose is associated with the far-Right, White supremacist group Ku Klux Klan (or the KKK) and has come to symbolise its heinous legacy of racial violence against the country's African American citizens.
Such symbols are often used by supremacist groups to subtly issue threats against certain communities. On the face of it, these symbols appear harmless and are used for targeted messaging, but owing to their cryptic nature, they cannot be categorised as hate speech or directly linked to violence.
In the aftermath of the recent communal clashes in Maharashtra's Nagpur, images of cauliflower plantations were shared widely on social media, especially on X, with cryptic posts alluding to a 'solution' to the March 17 Nagpur violence. Most accounts that shared these identified with pro-Hindu or far-Right ideologies, going by their bios.
The Cauliflower Plantation as a Symbol
On March 18, a day after the Nagpur clashes, X user Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) shared a seemingly harmless image where a woman is tending to a field of cauliflowers. The caption alluded to it as a 'solution' to the Nagpur violence. (Archive)
Notably, the user's bio reads says they are "Hindu | Bihari Rajput | Cauliflower Farmer | BLT Enjoyer." At first glance, the mention of 'Bihari Rajput' and 'Cauliflower Farmer' may not raise alarm but these are loaded references. More on that later. Additionally, BLT in 'BLT Enjoyer' stands for "Bhagwa Love Trap". 'BLT' is a conspiracy theory popular in some Muslim circles, claiming that Hindu men engage in relationships with Muslim women to lure them away from Islam and convert them to Sanatan Dharam, and has emerged as a counter to the 'Love Jihad' narrative.
Also read: Who is behind @HPhobiaWatch, the account that doxxed journalist Rana Ayyub?
Another X account, Randomsena (@randomsena), made a similar post on March 19. Sharing an image of a stack of cauliflowers, the caption said, "Organic Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetable 🥰". (Archive)
Note that both these users have, on several occasions, shared misinformation and amplified hateful and inflammatory communal content. Alt News has documented some of these here and here. For instance, in May last year, following the Rafah attacks in Palestine, a graphic expressing solidarity with Palestinians went viral. Several Indian celebrities shared it on their Instagram stories, only to be bullied, trolled and harassed by the Right. Some, including Ritika Sajdeh, wife of cricketer Rohit Sharma, and Rhiti Tiwari, a BJP member and daughter of MP Manoj Tiwari, even received threats, leading them to delete their posts. User Randomsena celebrated this wave of online bullying, tweeting "Hail RW supremacy."
Another X user, Saumya Sharma (@remottouch), whose bio claims they are an 'RSS member and an organic farmer', posted this on March 18: "In 1989 we had an amazing cauliflower produce (IYKYK)." 'IYKYK' is an acronym for "If you know, you know." This post was reported en masse and the X account stands suspended. (Archive)
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Several other users shared similar images and posts where references were made to cauliflower plantations.
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So, what are these images and captions referring to?
A Bloody History
To unsuspecting viewers, these might seem innocent. And while it's not apparent, the symbolism of these images is mired in bloodshed. The cauliflower here is not merely a vegetable but a symbol loaded with genocidal intent.
Over 30 years ago, the city of Bhagalpur, in Bihar, was rocked by a series of brutal riots, with Muslims bearing the brunt of the communal violence. In October 1989, rumours of Hindu students being murdered by Muslim mobs amid the cultural furore of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement began spreading. This gave way to a protracted period of organised communal violence, lasting around two whole months. The Bhagalpur riots, as they are called, saw more than 250 villages razed to the ground, leaving well over a thousand people dead, the majority of them Muslims.
Later, it became evident that the rumours were manufactured specifically to incite communal tensions.
According to some media reports, the match that lit the fire of the Bhagalpur riots in 1989 was an alleged attack on participants of a Ramshila procession—a gathering of Hindu devotees—passing through Tatarpur, a Muslim-majority locality in Bhagalpur on October 24. However, this version of the events is contested. Some reports claim that the procession was never meant to pass through Tatarpur, given the area's sensitivity, but police officials ignored concerns. Other reports indicate that many participants carried swords and chanted slogans such as "Baccha baccha Ram ka, baaki sab haraam ka" (Every child belongs to Ram; everything else is illegitimate).
In the village of Logain in Bhagalpur 116 Muslim people were slain by a mob allegedly led by police officer Ramchander Singh, on October 27, 1989. Their bodies were buried, and cauliflower saplings were planted on the mass graves in a bid to cover up and leave behind no trace of the killings. Nearly 25 days later, on November 21, the then-Additional District Manager of Bhagalpur, AK Singh, on a relief mission to a nearby village, overheard conversations between villagers about cauliflower plants sprouting over buried dead bodies and uncovered the massacre.
Decades later, far-Right leaning social media users are referring to cauliflowers, used to cover up the Bhagalpur mass killings, as a potential solution to silence a community. Rather than explicitly advocating violence against Muslims, symbolism is being used as a warning and reminder of the mass extermination of Muslims in Logain nearly 35 years ago. Glorifying the massacre as a "potential solution" to communal clashes falls just about short of a genocidal call. These posts by Right radicalists make subtle but obvious references to something sinister.
The Nagpur Clashes
Notably, these posts came soon after communal clashes in Maharashtra's Nagpur, in which many were injured and one person was killed.
On the morning of March 17, a Shiv Jayanti event was organised in the Mahal area of Nagpur. As the day progressed, Hindu nationalist Right Wing outfits Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal (VHP's youth wing) organised a demonstration demanding the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb in Khuldabad, near Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad). The Mughal emperor regained prominence after the recent Vicky Kaushal-starrer Chhaava, which depicts the execution of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj by Aurangzeb.
At the protests in Nagpur, there was sloganeering by VHP and Bajrang Dal activists and an effigy of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb was burnt. However, the situation became tense after allegations began spreading that a chadar, inscribed with Quranic verses, was burnt during the demonstrations.
Authorities have denied that religious totems were desecrated and called the burning of a chadar a mere rumour. However, on investigating, Alt News found that a chadar, which carried religious inscriptions in Arabic, had indeed been burnt. Read our detailed story: Video evidence disproves CM Fadnavis's claim that the effigy burnt in Nagpur clashes had no religious text.
In the chaos that ensued, vehicles were torched and stones pelted even at the police. Curfew was also imposed in parts of the city. The police have arrested those suspected of circulating unverified videos during the unrest, which they deemed an incitement to communal tension.
While the Maharashtra police have given contradictory statements on allegations of religious desecration, the VHP has maintained a steadfast denial of these charges. It should also be noted that while the VHP sought permission for the protest from the Maharashtra police, however, the police forbade them from burning an effigy of the Mughal Emperor, which was violated by the groups, prompting the police to file an FIR against them.
https://www.facebook.com/vhpbharatorg/videos/1006435820845570
Not A First
While the latest trigger for these posts is the violence in Nagpur, this isn't the first time such symbolism has come to the fore. From time to time, especially in the aftermath of communal clashes or whenever any there's any discussion about the Muslim community, these 'memes' and posts appear on social media guised as harmless humour.
For instance, in February, amid mass deportations of migrants from the United States, there was banter on X between certain sections. The argument was that if India could take back thousands of its 'illegal migrants' returning from the US, Bangladesh should reclaim crores of theirs spread in India. X user UgraMechanic, while responding to a post on this, said they (Rohingyas) should instead be 'put to use' like in El Salvador, and those who don't conform can be used as "fertilizer for Cauliflower fields". (Archive)
Meanwhile, another post from February last year used the same cauliflower reference in response to the riots that broke out in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. On February 10, 2024, X user Kalia (@kalia_01) posted an image of a cauliflower plantation and a person holding two cauliflowers in their hand. The face of the individual was replaced by a comic character called 'Pepe the Frog'; the imagery is often used in memes. The caption said, "Time fr pahadi ppl to start cauliflower farming b4 its too late ..."
The Haldwani riots followed the demolition of some 'illegal' structures, including a mosque and a madrassa. (Archive)
The cauliflower is not an isolated instance. Right-wing groups have repeatedly weaponised historical violence to intimidate and threaten the Muslim community. Another frequent reference is the 2002 Gujarat riots, triggered by the burning of two Sabarmati Express compartments carrying Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks in Godhra. The incident, the blame of which was put upon the Muslim community, led to widespread riots, leaving over 1,000 dead, the majority of whom were Muslims. Even today, Hindutva supporters invoke "Godhra" as a veiled warning to Muslims, reinforcing the threat of large-scale retaliation.
Also read: Nuh & after: 'Godhra was just a trailer,' say Hindutva leaders in Delhi, Punjab; cops stop Jantar Mantar meet midway
Arguably, these posts are part of a larger propaganda ecosystem that has conditioned the masses to view calls to violence against Muslims as justifiable by repeatedly broadcasting ideas and opinions that can influence them without facts. The same accounts that have shared these cryptic posts frequently amplify misinformation targeting Muslims, creating a systematic narrative against a community.
What is also alarming is how casually these users refer to genocide as a 'solution'. The captions and the memeification trivialise violence against a community and, in doing so, set a precedent of desensitising the public, paving the way for a possibly ominous future.
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Hello, my name is Ankit Sahu. I'm a 25 year old self-employed Pirate from the Chhindwara.