Playback singer Asha Bhosle’s cryptic tweet has fired up the ongoing debate on intolerance. In a tweet posted just a few hours ago, Bhosle wrote: “Dum Maro Dum…Bolo Subh Shyam Hare Krishna Hare Ram…can I perform this evergreen song or not?” While the legendary singer wasn’t explicit in her reference, Twitterati linked it to recent intolerance debate which erupted after 49 celebrities including Anurag Kashyap and Aparna Sen wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking stronger law against lynching.

The tweet which was posted just five hours ago has gone viral on social media with over 4,500 retweets and 25,000 likes. Bhosle’s tweet has drawn mixed reactions from Twitterati with some defending her right to sing whatever she wanted and some saying that it (Jai Shri Ram) shouldn’t be used to lynch people. This was something that was also mentioned by 49 celebs who in their open letter said that Jai Shri Ram has become a war cry today.

Some users have even used ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram’ reference in the context of West Bengal where a few people were allegedly booked for chanting Jai Shri Ram. A user by the name of Sharad Mishra said that Didi (Mamata Banerjee) will be afraid if the song is performed in West Bengal. Earlier, this year a video surfaced in which Mamata Banerjee got down from her car and chased some people who chanted Jai Shri Ram while her convoy was passing through.

Ever since this incident, a number of cases have been reported where people who Banerjee claims are BJP supporters have now been using Jai Shri Ram to mock TMC.

Another Twitter user Mayank Saxena writes, “You can, but the point is should you be lynched if you don’t?” He was referring to the recent incident where a Muslim man Tabrez Ansari was lynched on the suspicion of bike theft. However, the mob which beaten him to death forced Tabrez to chant Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hanuman.

Here are some reactions from Twitterati