5 years since 'semengate': When fake news was used to target Holi

It is now 5 years since India had to face the dreaded ‘semengate’ which threatened the entire Hindu festival of Holi. Thankfully, we could still continue to celebrate the festival and no government or court-mandated ban on Holi could arrive because the entire semengate turned out to be false.

On the 1st of March in 2018, two students of Lady Sri Ram College said that they were targeted with semen-filled balloons at Amar Colony. The alleged ‘victim’ said, “The balloons that were thrown on us, had some kind of gooey material coming out of them. We took a written apology from the family of the girl. We need to change the mindset of people who say that ‘balloons phenkna toh holi khelne ka tareeka hai. No, it is not’.”

The ‘victim’ girls posted on Instagram about this attack

She claimed that the balloon which was thrown at her when she was in an autorickshaw. The content of the balloon dried white on her kurta, and the smell indicated it wasn't water. However, she concluded it was semen. As per reports, at least 3 girls were hit by 'semen filled balloons'. While the girl who wrote the Instagram post has not specified the gender of the person who threw the balloon at her, presumably another victim claimed the semen filled balloon was thrown at her by a girl and they have taken a written apology from the said girl.

As always, Indian liberal media jumped on the news without any verification and started vilifying the entire festival of Holi.

Without applying their minds and thinking about how can someone fill an entire balloon with semen, or how can one get that much semen in a balloon in the first place, mockery of Hindus and Holi began in liberal circles.

Some people tried to use science to explain how this is simply impossible that a balloon was filled with semen, but they were largely ignored.

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