Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey faced flak from right-leaning quarters for the poster he held in his hands when this picture was taken.

It all started with a rather innocuous looking group photograph of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with some Indian women journalists and activists that they clicked during a group interaction on Dorsey's maiden visit to India -until one zoomed in on the poster Dorsey seems to be holding on to in the photograph.

The poster says, "Smash Brahminical Patriarchy".

No sooner had film critic Anna MM Vetticad, one of the attendees, posted that picture on her Twitter timeline, Twitterverse, especially Right-leaning groups, explode in anger.

Dorsey was attacked for seemingly endorsing a casteist slur against the Brahmin community and allegedly inciting hate against it. Former Infosys director Mohandas Pai tweeted: "@Twitter @TwitterIndia So if anybody gives you a hate poster, will you blindly showcase it or apply your judgement? This is a juvenile excuse for an unpardonable offence of hate mongering; it is obvious you have taken @jack up the garden path, misled him!"

Twitter India quickly issued a crisp statement. Twitter's Legal, Trust and Policy Lead in India, Vijaya Gadde, who was present at the interaction even issued an apology. "I'm very sorry for this. It's not reflective of our views. We took a private photo with a gift just given to us - we should have been more thoughtful. Twitter strives to be an impartial platform for all. We failed to do that here & we must do better to serve our customers in India."

On Wednesday, Congress leader Manish Tewari waded into the controversy. He wrote, "Why blame @CreatorOfTwitt. Anti-Brahmanism is the reality of Indian politics. Got accentuated in the North post-Mandalisation of Indianpolitics. We are the new Jews of India and we should just learn to live with it". Tewari, who was trying to support the outrage against Dorsey, came across to many as endorsing the alleged anti-Brahminical poster that was at the centre of the potboiler.

Mohandas Pai questioned Tewari and asked him, "@ManishTewari New Jews? Live with it? Then should hatred be acceptable once you apply your new label? Is this not equal to anti-Semitism globally? Is such hatred acceptable? Your illogical and hateful biases are out for the world to see. Shameful."

Tewari then clarified, "You missed the irony in the tweet completely so did everyone else. Of course, anti-Brahminism is wrong as much as being anti any other comm. What Twitter CEO did was totally uncalled for and he should apologise. All that I was flagging was a harmful strain in our ethos which seems to be growing."

Sanghapali Aruna, the one who gifted Dorsey the controversial poster wrote on a portal, "Brahminical patriarchy controls all of us in more ways than one. Brahmin women have been one of the victims of this hegemony. The 'Smash Brahminical patriarchy' poster which I gifted to Jack Dorsey was questioning precisely this hegemony and concentration of power in the hands of one community. This wasn't an attempt at hate speech against the Brahmins, but was an attempt to challenge the dominance and sense of superiority that finds its origins in the caste system."

In a joint statement issued late on Wednesday evening, they said, "We made it clear during the discussion that we were against any individuals - irrespective of their political or caste affiliations - who actively threaten women. We call on Twitter to step up and not capitulate to bigotry, disinformation, and bullying, and to address in serious terms the problem of trolls threatening the life and liberty of scores of women and marginalised communities (including Dalits and religious minorities) online."

Read | CEO Jack Dorsey holds placard saying Smash Brahminical Patriarchy, now there is caste war on Twitter