Amartya Sen's social media abuse: How Twitter trolls turned a deaf ear to PM Modi's advice

The omerta worked for only six days. After PM Modi categorically asked online followers to refrain from using abusive language on social media, there was a belief that things may calm down in the virtual world, more than a year after NDA recorded its spectacular victory in the 2014 General Elections. But unfortunately, it turned out to be merely a temporary blip on the radar, as all hell broke loose once India's most well-known public intellectual Amartya Sen expressed some uncharitable reactions against the Modi government.

What followed was the usual rise, rinse, repeat of trollish behaviour that has sadly become the hallmark of social media. Nothing was left untouched, from Amartya Sen's private life to the acting choices made by his daughter, everything was stripped bare. There were also half-baked allegations about Amartya Sen's 'misconduct' at the Nalanda University.

A satirical take:

Amartya Sen wins the Nobel Prize: "What an Indian. A true genius." Amartya Sen criticises Modi: "Saala haraami. Paki hoga." — Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) July 7, 2015

Spewing venom   

Amartya Sen to Nobel Prize is what SRK to Filmfare awards — Ra_Bies (@Ra_Bies) July 7, 2015

Amartya Sen is so concerned about Education system that he looted 2700 Cr from it and now wants the Fascist RSS people not to question him. — Ankur Singh (@BihariTweeter) July 7, 2015

Allegations at Nalanda University

Dear Amartya Sen, Modi government wants control of the spending of academic bodies so that this doesn't happen https://t.co/XO0rIKsqzw — Kartikeya Tanna (@KartikeyaTanna) July 7, 2015

Some even want him to leave the country 

We don't want you as an Indian citizen.As it is you don't live here. https://t.co/LTm5lzpVz1 — Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) July 8, 2015

Sadly, very few talked about the core fundamental issues raised by professor Sen. No person is above criticism, neither the PM of the largest democracy nor a Nobel Laureate. But if there was a point by point rebuttal to Sen, that would have been far better. Instead, what followed was slander and name calling. The fundamental issue raised by Amartya Sen is about how the government has failed to truly empower worthy people in hallowed educational institutes. The Modi government had come to power riding on the promise of 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance'. But the top down approach that many intellectuals have accused the government of, is an antithesis to that promise. So there could have been a proper discussion based on facts for a possible rebuttal to Sen's claims. But the mindless attack on Amartya Sen seemed essentially a bid to obfuscate the entire issue. Another question which no one answered was why the government was not launching a probe against Amartya Sen, if he had indeed indulged in any suspicious activity.

However, Amartya Sen is not alone. The same treatment is almost unfailingly meted out to almost all celebrities. Be it journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai after his Madison Square report or actors like Rishi Kapoor for questioning the beef ban, or even politicians like Arun Jaitley for giving an interview to a channel that the fans didn't approve of!

A great aspect of democracy is being patient and giving importance to the voice of the minority. The majority shouldn't give place to majoritarianism. That is what looks to be the case here, with a sense of hyper nationalistic rhetoric plaguing the discourse. Criticising the ruling regime does not mean one is an anti-national, a simple fact which seems to be lost in 140 characters. The manner in which actress Shruti Seth was hounded for an innocuous tweet putting a contrarian point about the much publicised #SelfieWithDaughters initiative was astounding. It points towards a deeper malice, a deeper rot which goes beyond supporters of a political party.

Once viciously attacked on social media, individuals or celebrities are prone to going into a shell, so all we can expect from them then, are benign and sugar-coated tweets. The hawkish behaviour of hunting in packs is leading to a serious erosion of the public space, which at the end of the day, is the greatest tragedy of all.

The threshold for dissent has gone alarmingly low on social media. The view is that you're either with us, or against us. People have even lost the capability to take a joke. Buzzfeed India editor Rega Jha was recently trolled mercilessly for merely saying that Pakistanis are more good looking than Indians! But it is not only celebrities. As the comment section on most websites suggest, it is a season of throwing muck at each other.

"Friends, please display restraint in language and conduct. We can always put across our point of view in proper language." 

This is what PM Modi said to 150 Twitter influencers recently and via them, to the entire Twitter ecosystem just seven days ago. Sadly, as of now it is clear that even PM Modi's intervention is not working.