How social media led to confrontations

13 September, 2012

Conflicts could be spread through social media and this what we experienced recently during the Assam riots. The hate messages and morphed pictures even forced people from the northeastern states to migrate from cities like Bangalore.

IT IS very unfortunate that the recent conflict in the Bodoland Territorial Area District claimed lives of many innocents besides causing wanton loss to property. Union and state governments and all other concerned departments are trying to take up necessary action to do the needful. In due course of time we can hope that everything shall be controlled and well managed by the administration though there are doubts whether victims will finally get justice or not.

But if we look into the other aspects then we could see that the conflict which started in Bodoland has also spread over social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. One can find many posts, photographs and comments related to the same. Most of the people who were uploading the news or opinion on these sites were not direct victims of the conflict. These are people who are mostly outside the region and commented on the basis of media reports or other sources.

Many young people or others who are taking part in the discussion on social networking sites may not be aware of what is happening in the Bodoland areas. One needs to know about the geography and people before commenting. I think updating authentic information doesn't pose any problems but we must be sensitive while uploading such topics or photographs which might indirectly harm many other people. Spreading of SMS or MMSes has led many people from other states to return to Assam or other north eastern states.

It has been reported that websites from countries like Pakistan were involved in spreading controversial messages which created confusion. Though the cyber law is not very vigorous in country like India but may be its time for us to bring some legislations so that country doesn't suffer from outside. But this does not mean that now government will ban most of the social networking sites, but government must have mechanism through which it can arrest people who are engaged in anti social activities and prosecute them according to the law of the nation.

As mentioned earlier, one thing has been clear that there has been a proxy war against our nation. The good news is that couple of people have been arrested who are associated with activities like spreading messages and other such things. But how do we prosecute people who are doing it on social sites and disrupting the fabric of our society.

Though I use sites like Facebook, I have not uploaded anything which might lead to any kind of controversy. It is right time that we young people use social networking sites responsibly so that our comments or posts don't lead to any other conflicts or violence. At the same time let us identify the people who are trying to spread controversial things. It’s right time to take united stand to find out the culprits and bring them in front of people.

Whatever has happened has happened but now we can remain united and work for the justice of the people who have become victims of the conflicts. Instead of spreading conflicts or violence, it is time to work for them who need our support directly or indirectly. As government has announced rehabilitation packages for the victims, we can coordinate and see whether they are getting justice or not. We can use social networking sites to make sure that school students who have become victims get education and no one is deprived of regular classes. People in the relief camps or affected areas get their rights. It’s time to take action in a positive way. Let us all use social networking sites sensibly so that instead of leading to more disturbances we help in building a vibrant civil society.