Vijayawada: Political discourse on social media is often becoming ugly in Andhra Pradesh, with supporters of different political parties resorting to personal attacks and verbal abuses using filthy language. Although the practice of using social media for political campaigning has existed for a long time, in recent years it has become a tool for cyber bullies to launch targeted attacks on political opponents.
In recent times, the cyber bullies did not spare even the judges of the high court and Supreme Court. The high court took suo moto cognisance of the issue and ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). With the use of social media for political attacks, the number of cases against social media users has also increased in the last five years. Police used Section 153A of IPC, commonly known as the hate speech section, against those who criticised the govt, which resulted in a debate on freedom of speech and expression.
Andhra Pradesh topped the list with the highest number of hate speech cases in 2021, according to NCRB report. Then opposition parties criticised the govt for ‘misuse’ of hate speech section, claiming the police action was to silence voices of dissent. A similar debate is now being raised over the latest police action on social media abusers. The only difference is that there has been a change in govt, with the opposition coming to power and vice versa. The present NDA govt has justified police action as part of its efforts to “ensure women’s safety and dignity”. Home minister Vangalapudi Anitha alleged that YSRCP social media supporters were abusing women in unspeakable language, and she herself was a victim of such abuses. She lambasted former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for supporting cyber bullies, despite his own mother and sister being victims of social media attacks. Drawing a ‘distinction’ between the arrests during the YSRCP regime and the NDA regime, TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah said Jagan harassed people for raising their voices against YSRCP govt policies. However, the NDA govt is taking action only against ‘organised gangs’ which are abusing women on social media, he said.
YSRCP termed the arrest of social media activists as “atrocious and undemocratic”. YSRCP functionary Lakshmi Parvathi said the ‘repression’ on social media is nothing but suppressing voices of dissent.
