Yes, his or his government's fears are legitimate. That the ordinary mortals, the people of India, have had too much of freedom of speech lately. That they were getting away with it all, that they were being far too critical of their rulers. Their critical observations about politicians and their activities were almost blasphemous. And the platform provided by the Facebook had simply to be dismantled. Innocuous banterings are okay, but this regular questioning of their attitude and actions was not on.
I realized it the hard way. I was on the facebook and wanted to give vent to my ire that some MPs whose only status is they are people's representatives and not their feudal lords found it below their dignity to travel 2nd AC. From the way they behaved it appeared they were born with 1st AC facilities and had to live with that all their life. The Facebook would simply not carry it. After failing the second time, I realized it was Kapil Sibal effect. Even though the government is in the denial mode, the fact of the matter is--censorship is on.
In the recently concluded Summit on Leadership one of the key foreign dignitaries had said India had too much of democracy and that it worked to its disadvantage. Our government seems to have bought this idea and may have concurred with this view especially in view of the fact that Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption commanded best social network coverage. But for this the movement against corruption would not have floored the government and even now when Anna's threat looms large, the government fears that if there is no check on some of these social network channels, it may be fighting a losing battle against those who see corruption as the biggest evil in the country. The fears are legitimate and the government, especially Kapil Sibal, will be within its rights to put some kind of censorship on such social network outlets where people from all walks of life congregate to vent their ire against their government that thinks it has divine right to rule.
The problem is--there are far too many outlets. You cannot shut all of them down. Needless to say, I had to give this detailed account because Facebook did not provide me the face.
I realized it the hard way. I was on the facebook and wanted to give vent to my ire that some MPs whose only status is they are people's representatives and not their feudal lords found it below their dignity to travel 2nd AC. From the way they behaved it appeared they were born with 1st AC facilities and had to live with that all their life. The Facebook would simply not carry it. After failing the second time, I realized it was Kapil Sibal effect. Even though the government is in the denial mode, the fact of the matter is--censorship is on.
In the recently concluded Summit on Leadership one of the key foreign dignitaries had said India had too much of democracy and that it worked to its disadvantage. Our government seems to have bought this idea and may have concurred with this view especially in view of the fact that Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption commanded best social network coverage. But for this the movement against corruption would not have floored the government and even now when Anna's threat looms large, the government fears that if there is no check on some of these social network channels, it may be fighting a losing battle against those who see corruption as the biggest evil in the country. The fears are legitimate and the government, especially Kapil Sibal, will be within its rights to put some kind of censorship on such social network outlets where people from all walks of life congregate to vent their ire against their government that thinks it has divine right to rule.
The problem is--there are far too many outlets. You cannot shut all of them down. Needless to say, I had to give this detailed account because Facebook did not provide me the face.
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