Paytm Na Karo: Did Vijay Shekhar cancel his donation to Harvard? Rajiv Malhotra claims…

We are living in the golden era of social media where we have a host of options to broadcast our views and disagreements to the world but what makes X (formerly known as Twitter) a cut above, is its townhall nature where people from all walks of life can converge to outrage.

The reason X stands out is because anyone can talk to anyone, like an engineer from Bihar who gives Elon Musk tech advice or an anon handle who asks Shane Warne what he knows about spin.

The most recent convergence of diverse individuals involved author Rajiv Malhotra, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar, and X owner Elon Musk. It all started when Elon Musk re-posted a video from The Matt Walsh Show about an alleged DEI hire linking it to the recent Alaska Airlines mishap.

Elon Musk wrote: “Merit should be the only reason for hiring, especially for jobs where your family’s lives are at stake.”

This prompted criticism from civil rights organisations but what was interesting was how the story took a desi turn.

Musk’s comment about merit had been re-posted with the comment: “100” by Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar, to suggest he backed Musk’s suggestion.

This led to some sharp criticism from author Rajiv Malhotra who claimed Shekhar’s support of Musk’s merit hypothesis was in contradiction of his actions.

Re-upping a story from the Harvard Gazette in 2020 in which Shekhar had ostensibly given a gift to the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute that conducts according to its own website “engaging in interdisciplinary research to advance and deepen the understanding of critical issues of South Asia and its relationship to the world”, Rajiv Malhotra accused Shekhar of contradicting himself.

He also wrote: “Deshbhakti is a facade. @vijayshekhar also feeds the Harvard Snakes. In 2020, the head of Paytm, (the digital payment system), Vijay Shekhar Sharma also joined the elite group of Indian billionaires and donated an undisclosed sum of money to support the activities and research performed by The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. The Lakshmi Mittal & Family South Asia Institute has an inordinately high interest in India’s minorities & is also known for its support to radical Muslim narrative on Kashmir and other parts of India.”

This led Vijay Shekhar to reply on X: “Not true information, sir. No such donation.”

Malhotra later wrote that he had received a call from Vijay Shekhar where they had a “candid chat”.

He wrote on X: “He has assured me that though he did sign the agreement with Harvard, he has not yet sent them any money, and will not do so. This is good news. I am glad he is on our side. I told him about the Woke anti-meritocracy gang of Marxists. How they have roped in Khalistanis, Kashmir separatists, Dalit extremists and various others to undermine India. He is himself a product of meritocracy. I want to encourage more Indian billionaires to please stand by our Bharat at this time.”

Malhotra’s claim led to some celebration on social media with one user saying: “You were the first. Now the Americans themselves are out to dismantle the corrupt academia and the DEI mafia.”

Another praised Vijay Shekhar and wrote: “What a down to earth guy Mr. Vijay is, instead of replying (sic) on twitter and making issue, he just call u (sic) and explain everything (sic)..”

The War on DEI looks unlikely to end any time soon in America but it’s always interesting to see how Indians (including non-resident ones) are so invested in America’s culture wars.

Harvard has been in the news recently, along with other Ivy League universities over protests which critics have deemed anti-Semitic.