11 by 9: The elephant story in 11 tweets

How the "story" of the day played out on social media

***

It takes an elephant to, well, reveal the elephant in the room: the venom coursing through the veins of poisoned minds.

The death of a 15-year-old elephant in India’s first Muslim-majority district Mallappuram in Kerala, after it was fed a pineapple stuffed with countrymade bombs and dynamite, led to the usual of chest-beating.

It started with a tweet by an NDTV journalist.

Shylaja Varma @ShylajaVarma

The details are horrific! Took me a while to process. Pregnant elephant fed pineapple stuffed with crackers in Kerala. She died standing. “She didn't harm a single human even when she ran in searing pain.” ⁦@NewIndianXpress⁩ among the first to report

ndtv.comPregnant Elephant Ate Pineapple Stuffed With Crackers In Kerala. She Died Standing In RiverAn elephant that was pregnant died in Kerala, standing in water, last Wednesday, after she ate a pineapple filled with firecrackers, allegedly left by some locals. The fruit exploded in her mouth, leading to the inevitable tragedy.

For Prakash Javadekar, the information and broadcasting minister, who should have better things to do, it was a “killing”, no less.

“Not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill,” he tweeted since it is very much in “Indian culture” to shout ‘Goli maaro saloon ko’.

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar

Central Government has taken a very serious note of the killing of an elephant in Mallapuram, #Kerala. We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprit(s). This is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill. @moefcc @PIB_India @PIBHindi

And the usual suspects lent their names to it.

Ratan N. Tata @RNTata2000

Except, it was not in Mallappuram, but Palakkad, 90 km away.

Stanly Johny @johnstanly

First, it's not Mallapuram, it's Malappuram. Second, the incident didn't occur in Malappuram, it's in Palakkad. Third, you're a Union Minister.

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar

Central Government has taken a very serious note of the killing of an elephant in Mallapuram, #Kerala. We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprit(s). This is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill. @moefcc @PIB_India @PIBHindi

Except, it was not countryman bombs, but mortar to ward away animals.

Except, it was not fed, it ate.

Prithviraj Sukumaran @PrithviOfficial

Except, maybe, it was not deliberate, but an accident.

Nidheesh M K @mknid

The pregnant #elephantDeath in Kerala may have accidently fallen victim to a trap set for killing wild boars. Now why do people set such fruit bombs for killing wild boars. In search for an answer I checked the legal way to kill a wild boar. It's laughable. Thread

Advaid അദ്വൈത് @Advaidism

@ShylajaVarma & @ndtv have to tweet a Clarification. It was their report that said Elephant was fed pineapple stuffed with crackers. Reality is that poor Elephant fell prey to a cruel explosive snare which are used to catch wild boars that spoil crops.

ibtimes.co.inFact Check: Kerala pregnant elephant was not ‘fed’ Pineapple stuffed with firecrackersPineapples filled with dynamites are often used as a snare for catching wild boars and other animals that spoil crops.

But when you spend your life in the post-truth world, fabricating stories, it is difficult to believe there might be an other side to a story, or that your story may be fake.

So, the fake news artist who publishes a fake news portal joined in the carnival.

Mahesh Vikram Hegde @mvmeet

While humans killed a pregnant elephant in Kerala, This baby elephant saves a human as it thought he was drowning!

The chief minister of Kerala has clarified, and so has the Kerala forest department, but in the end, the needle has moved so much that it won’t wake up the elephant.

Ajay Kamath @ajay43

Recent facts about India 1) An elephant killed in Kerala invokes greater outrage than an elephant killed anywhere else 2) An elephant killed in a “Muslim” area invokes even greater outrage 3) An elephant’s death means more than the death of underprivileged humans

The journalist at the heart of the story tweeted a clarification. And NDTV edited its story online.

But foreign correspondents are always looking for “takeaways”!

Stanly Johny @johnstanly

Takeaways from from the #elephant story 1. Journalists don't care for facts; 2. Celebrities are waiting for a chance to display their moral anger without hurting those in power; 3. Netas won't miss any chance for communalisation; 4. Human life is cheap in this country.

And finally…

Sneha Koshy @SnehaMKoshy

#Kerala CM: There is a targetted campaign against Kerala, Malappuram. People including Union Ministers involved in campaign against Kerala. If it was a misconception, they would've corrected it. But the fact that they are not correcting, shows its deliberate.

Meanwhile there is a twist

Advaid അദ്വൈത് @Advaidism

Here comes the biggest twist of the Elephant Story in Kerala. The Forest Surgeon who autopsied the elephant said that there was no traces of PINEAPPLE (കൈതച്ചക്ക) found within the Elephant. He doesn't even know how this story came up in the first place.

mathrubhumi.comആന കൈതച്ചക്ക കഴിച്ചുവെന്നത് ഊഹാപോഹം മാത്രം, ആനയെ ആദ്യം കണ്ടത് പാലക്കാട്ടെ അമ്പലപ്പാറയിൽ തന്നെകോഴിക്കോട്: അമ്പലപ്പാറയില്‍ പടക്കംപൊട്ടി വായ തകര്‍ന്ന് ആന ചെരിഞ്ഞ സംഭവത്തില്‍ ..

As a Jamia Millia Islamia student Safoora Zargar, arrested on 10 April in connection with the Delhi “riots”, is denied bail after a four-hour-long hearing at Patiala Court in Delhi, @arvindtm joins the dots.