In a major boost to the economy and to investor sentiments, US credit rating agency Moody's on Friday upgraded India's sovereign rating to Baa2 from its lowest investment grade of Baa after 14 long years. Reacting to the development, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was "an extremely encouraging" global recognition of the structural reforms in the last three years.
The Moody's rating, however, has become a source of controversy. While the BJP government has been praising it, opposition parties have mostly criticised it.
Even as the debate around the improved ratings continues to rage, there has been one unfortunate case of mistaken identity.
Several social media users from Kerala, seem to have mistaken former Australian cricketer Tom Moody as the man behind the Moody's ratings.
The last post of cricker Moody was on October 4, where he thanked people for their birthday wishes. "Many thanks for all the very kind B'Day wishes, I had a wonderful time with family at home. Cheers," he wrote on Facebook.
Presumably, because that is the first post that people can see on his profile, users have been using the space to voice their opinions.
The comment section started buzzing with many Malayali Facebook users abusing Moody. Many called him Modi's stooge and a 'paid sanghi'.
One Facebook user, who has posted many comments, declared that they would not stop the digital war on Moody till he apologised for the credit rating report.
One eager user told the formerc cricketer to wait for 2019. "Your Modi will be voted out." Another said that it would have been better to plant a banana sapling than give birth to Moody!
The comments kept pouring in and soon there were memes exhorting more people to troll Tom Moody, 'the bootlicker'.
However, after news outlets in Kerala began reporting about the trolling Tom Moody has been receiving for no fault his own, many of the comments disappeared. A large number of comments are still there on Moody's wall.
In its defence, CPI(M) supporters said that the trolling was being done from fake accounts. "These are fake accounts. This is a sanghi conspiracy to defame communists," said one user. CPI (M) social media users also started posting details of fake accounts that were pretending to be communist. The comments section on Moody Facebook page has now turned into a war zone of sorts, especially between BJP, Congress and CPI(M) supporters.
Many have replied to the comments trolling Moody, asking them not to insult Kerala.
"Dear fools from Kerala, this is the account of Tom Moody, the cricketer. Please dont't spoil Kerala's name. Run away you imbeciles," said one.
"100% percent literacy has not helped," another mocked.
Those who have realised the goof up have been asking others not to indulge in the trolling.
Tom Moody must be wondering what happened to his FB account. Here's wishing him a belated happy birthday.