India’s partition in the year 1947 was accompanied by large scale violence, mass murders and rapes. It took decades for us Indians to recuperate from the shock of our land being divided, of us getting parted from our loved ones and leaving our beloved homes for forever.
Why am I talking of the partition when it has been almost seven decades since it happened, because I see yet another partition which is evident whenever I visit any social media website.
A ubiquitous trend has plagued almost all social media pages which comprises of thousands and millions of followers, educated followers per se. Any content posted on such pages turns into a harbinger of furious war of comments in favour and opposition of the content. It doesn’t matter what content is being posted, you would always find a considerate amount of people arguing on the topic, to the extent that it turns into total chaos and conflict and the whole topic of discussion is gutted in the meanwhile and people start picking religion, caste and ethnicity and say things which can’t be mentioned.
Indian social media slowly and steadily, is being splintered into various pieces. Now, there is one group which claims allegiance to the current government and would not withstand a single word of criticism against it, even when those criticisms are just and valid. There also exists another group which vociferously and vehemently criticizes the government and is cynical and inimical to the government even when it is on the right path. On further research it turns out that these very groups have been anointed different names, the former are labelled as “Bhakts or Modi Bhakts”, because they are alleged of being unable to listen even one word of criticism against the government.
The latter are termed as “Congressi, Aaptards, etc”, because they are alleged of criticising the government on the drop of a hat. Then there are groups which comprises of people who don’t bother about politics and resurrect only when the news channels flashes headlines about any incident which could range from riots to rapes or any incident which they suppose affects the society the most. These very people are labelled as “Sickulars”, “Presstitute”, etc.
India as a country has never shied away from debates and difference of opinions but what is carried on social media by us can’t be put into the category of debates, it is more of a brutal fight of words that has no limitations or boundaries, where the respective groups try to establish their ideological hegemony at any cost, be it by disgracing someone’s religion, faith, social or economical background or sometimes by hurling abuses or sexist comments. This stark phenomenon is visible on several pages, you would always find an irascible personality delivering diatribes and harangues to people who don’t agree by the post or have a dissenting view on the subject. He or she might not have an iota of knowledge regarding the post but would impose to be an Einstein of the subject matter.
It starts with one individual and then there would be several others following him/her like the rats of Hamlin did behind the Pied Piper. Verbal venoms are spewed at each other and no one’s mothers or sisters are spared in the aftermath.
The result of such heated arguments is hatred and animosity towards one another and this is killing the unity in diversity spirit of India. I have come across people who have had bitter experience on social media and they have resorted to stay away from such pages although they liked it immensely in the first place. This in turn affects the image of the page and the hard work of people who worked relentlessly for it is wasted just because of a handful orators.
There is no problem in defending one’s view and ideology but it is quite impractical to expect that the other person too should think and act like you do. If you look carefully at such debates, or battles, I must say, most of the times the subject is related to Indian Politics and Politicians or Religion.
It is good that the youth of this country is proactive on political subject but what is disheartening is to see educated young minds pandering to a particular party or politician. Supporting a party is a different thing but turning into obsequious followers and stooges for the same is different and dangerous. If a person can’t criticise a Party or its actions online, then how do we expect him to do it. All of this is contributing to creation of virtual ghettos and that is detrimental to the diversity and democracy of India.
In a democracy everyone has their rights, right to support and right to dissent too. But we must realise our limits in advocating our thoughts and views and we must know where our turf ends and the other person’s space starts. India has been a pluralistic country since time immemorial and that has always been our strength but these hate speeches, trolls and abuses on social media not only affect the very same pluralism but also degrades India’s image.
It is good to have discussions and debates on social media as it showcases our diversity and our ability of understanding a topic by different viewpoints. An age old adage elucidates this quite clearly, it goes like this, “Discussions are to find what is right and Arguments are to find who is right”.
Our presence on any social media page should be to find the former. Social Media has immense powers but unfortunately it has always been used to spread hatred and for wrong purposes, it has been used to divide more and unite less. This is probably the right time to ask ourselves, if social media can be used by some sick people to break the democratic fabrics of our Motherland, can be used to spread riots, hatred and propaganda. Why can’t it be used by us to unite ourselves and give a resounding answer to those perpetrators? Why can’t we have fruitful discussions and debates without bringing religion or politics into it? Why can’t we use the social media to unite our nation and be responsible and good citizens? I would leave the readers to find the answers of these questions themselves.
JAI HIND.
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
