Social media has connected the individual to the global community in a most direct way. This has many advantages, but also some severe disadvantages. The comments by ministers and other politicians of Maldives on India and Prime Minister Modi, most certainly as individuals, have triggered a diplomatic storm for which the government of that country had no direct responsibility. While efforts are being made to paper over the disaster, it reveals how situations can go out of control beyond the traditional checks and balances.
While this is a somewhat extreme case, there are examples almost every day, including in India, where comments and posts by individuals are upsetting the apple cart for organisations and political parties. Leaders cannot anticipate what people might say unless they are mind-readers; but it is their job to clean up after the damage is done. So, strategic planning of any kind becomes extraordinarily difficult in achieving objectives.
This is being seen in the run up to the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ that is to take place in Ayodhya on 22 January. Political parties are trying hard to walk the tightrope between not seeming disrespectful of Lord Ram and denying the BJP credit for the occasion. This is being made impossible by over-the-top statements by politicians hitherto unknown beyond their constituencies. Not all of them can be sanctioned, suspended or expelled – there are too many permutations and combinations involved.
As in the case of the Maldives, where a strong anti-India sentiment has been generated by local politics, the most inconvenient facts tend to emerge. The newly elected leader of that small nation heavily dependent on Tourism will have wanted to project himself as a mature exponent of international diplomacy, cleverly balancing the two major powers – India and China – for his country’s benefit. Now, however, he faces an unprecedented economic boycott. His only solace will be the fact that Indians have notoriously short memories regarding history. They will be back soon enough, once the dust settles.
An assistant professor from a mofussil university seeking another nation for Muslims; an MLA irresponsibly voicing apprehensions of the BJP setting off bomb blasts in Ayodhya to win elections; a cleric warning Muslims not to travel by train before the temple event; and numerous others have acquired reach much beyond what they deserve. Such public fulminations create divides and influence mindsets without the correctives of proportionality. An isolated, single voice, can be deemed that of a nation, community or religion, creating divisions where they earlier did not exist. This problem needs to be speedily addressed before it goes even more out of hand.
