‘Lizard Meme’ Reference In Pune College WhatsApp Group Sparks Outrage Over Derogatory Remarks On Maharashtra & Marathi People

Pimpri-Chinchwad: The students of a college in Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad area have sparked outrage online after images of their group chat leaked on social media. In this group chat, it can be seen that the students are making derogatory comments about Maharashtra and Marathi people over the controversial 'Lizard Meme' reference.

According to an X (formerly Twitter) post shared by an account named @Parth09699342, students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology Pune in Pimpri-Chinchwad's Akurdi area are involved in this. The chats shared by them show the lizard meme reference in them and are alleged to be derogatory against Maharashtra and Marathi people.

The post contains angry outbursts against these students who are allegedly non-Marathis and are from outside Maharashtra. The post has tagged accounts of Pune Police and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, who is also a member of parliament from Pune Lok Sabha Constituency.

The post has gone viral with 13,000 views on it at the time of writing this news report. Multiple pro-Marathi personalities have been tagged in this post and they have been urged to take action.

A majority of reactions are urging the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Pune to take action against this. MNS is known for taking hard actions against people who disrespect Marathi people or Maharashtrians. The famous 'MNS style action,' which many times takes violent turns, is being demanded by outraged netizens here.

When contacted, Sachin Chikhale, Pimpri-Chinchwad City President for the MNS, he said he had no idea of this. He told the free press journal, "I will look into this. If any disrespect is found, MNS will take matters into their own hands."

What's the Lizard Meme Reference?

The Lizard meme stems from a disturbing real-life incident: in April 2022, four men were arrested for allegedly raping a Bengal monitor lizard in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra. It was a serious wildlife crime that shocked many and made national headlines. Online communities quickly picked up on the event, particularly Reddit, where users started making dark jokes and memes, using the horrific incident to stereotype Maharashtrians as people who “like" lizards.

One Reddit user bluntly framed it, saying, “It’s a dark joke. There was one incident where a few men from Maharashtra captured this type of lizard, gang raped it and then ate it.”

Another one said, "These dank memers were having trouble finding stereotypes for Maharashtrians, so they stereotyped based on a single news about some group of people raping a monitor lizard. It's just one wild instance made into a stereotype because there was a lack of any good one."

This has currently gained traction and netizens and Punekars are waiting for what happens next after the outrage it has garnered.