On Saturday, June 16, a Meghalaya Government classified document from the Home Department marked, “Top Secret” and giving details of why internet ban for another 48 hours was necessitated apropos the DGP of Meghalaya’s report, was leaked over social media. This is unprecedented and alarmingly suggests the presence of a mole or moles within the Government system – and that in the sensitive Home Department at a very trying time when the city of Shillong is still under curfew. Will the Government ever find out who leaked this document or will there be silence on this too as there is on many ticklish issues.
The power of social media for good seems to have been eclipsed by its power for hate-mongering and for creating the lynch mob mentality. Truly social media is a tool that defies reason and logic because it allows for free play of narcissism and vulgarity. No invention is totally good or bad. There are equal measures of both. Many young professionals preparing for different examinations or doing research etc., are upset with the ban on internet. Their contention is that those who use the internet for professional growth and business cannot be punished because of a few wrongdoers. Perhaps they are correct. The ban on internet presupposes that every citizen in Meghalaya is untrustworthy and must pay the price for the police ineffectiveness to get hold of the few agent provocateurs and rumour-mongers who use social media with dexterity for their narrow ends. It’s time for the Meghalaya Police to invest heavily on cyber crime management, but for now their immediate target should be to zero in on the mole who leaked a Top Secret document for, the enemy within is more dangerous than the enemy without.
Recently, a young lady had to call a press conference here to clear her name vis-a-vis an intimate picture of hers that was circulated over social media without her consent. The damage that this has caused to her immediate family is immeasurable. There are many such reputations that have been destroyed by morphed pictures of persons in compromising poses. But today the greatest danger to a country of such great diversities as India is, is the potential of social media to ignite social tensions leading to large scale conflicts or the several cases of lynching ignited by hate messages circulated over social media. For the young Home Minister of Meghalaya, who has a relatively fresh mind unpolluted by the rigours of politics in the corridors of power, it’s an opportunity to prove himself by taking decisive steps to purge the system of the presence of moles.
