Living by the sword

Brahmeshwar Singh, head of the upper caste militia known as the Ranvir Sena, was shot dead near Patna, making him a trending topic across the country. Madhavan Narayanan tweeted: ‘Ranvir Sena used to be notorious as a backlash force, comparable to the Sicilian mafia. It's Maoism of the upper castes!' According to Ajoy Chatterjee, ‘Where governments fail, Ranvir Sena thrives. In UP/Bihar, heinous murders by Maoist gunmen are often supported in the name of love for Dalits!' And there was this from Barbarian Indian: ‘No one can condone Ranvir Sena's grotesque acts, but to use their leader's murder as an excuse to historical revisionism is revolting.'

The next PM?
Narendra Modi as Prime Minister was a surprise discussion leading to a flurry of opposing views. According to Prakash Sharma, ‘This debate is indicative of how sick people are with the lacklustre UPA and lack of inspiring leadership from any quarter!' Ashok Banker, on the other hand, tweeted: ‘Venom spewed at anyone who criticizes Modi is proof of the hate war he and his followers are waging against us all.' Tarun Tripathi had another point of view: ‘Let's not get so outraged about Modi. All we care about is our monthly salaries, petrol prices and good times. Let's not pretend otherwise.'

Word power
Indian American Snigdha Nandipati won America's National Spelling Bee, attracting attention here in the process. Fake ESPN tweeted: ‘The Spelling Bee should have ended with a dance number, since they had the entire cast of Slumdog Millionaire on stage.' Tony Parkin added: ‘If your name is Snigdha Nandipati, it is probably not surprising that you are good at spelling.' And from Rituparna Chatterjee: ‘The Americans must hate our guts, not for taking jobs away, but for winning the Bee year after year.'

The last word
From writer Chetan Bhagat: ‘Dear BJP, stop the infighting please. You are not in the Big Boss house.'

- Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD DAY Online (twitter.com/lindsaypereira)