Dear Friends,
What to believe? What not to believe? ☹️☹️☹️ I was utterly confused
from last night till today afternoon when I realized the truth. I believe many
of you might have asked this question to others or at least yourself, last day
or today morning if you happen to read the Whatsapp message about the so-called
“Janakeeya
Harthal” or the harthal called by the Social Media for the first time,
here, in Kerala. The message said that this harthal will be held today without
the support of any political party or organizations and it aimed to bring
justice to the murdered girl in the Kathua case and to protest against the
government. As per the information given in one of the messages, this will be a
24 hour harthal (12 am to 12 pm), today, the 16th of April 2018.
One of the messages was too much sensitizing the public
emotion about the Kathua Incident and asked the public who are humane to join
the protest today for the same, thus making the protest a major success by
gaining the attention nationwide. It also said that: “Kerala will realize the power of
Social Media once again.” The so-called rules of this innovative
protest include all kinds of transportation including the KSRTC and even the
Two-Wheelers and forcing all shops closed. It also said that: “Anyone
who violates these rules will be considered, by the wise public, as human
beings devoid of the humane attitude.”
Apart from this, I also received other message which reads: “Fake
news about harthal circulating via Social Media” and later it was followed by
another message which says the former news was fake. I googled about the same,
enquired with my friends and colleagues, searched in news channels but . . .
there was not even a single word of this protest except in the Whatsapp and
Facebook.
Today morning while travelling, I was amazed to see all the
shops in Thalassery closed. I asked the lady who sat next to me in bus: “Is there any harthal today?” I repeated
the question to a couple of my friends too, who answered: “No”. Today
afternoon, on my way back to home, I saw some bus with a notice pasted in the
mirror: “Justice for Asifa – This bus will stop running now”. Yet, there
are some who is still not aware of today’s harthal.
I wonder whether observing harthal here, in Kerala, could bring
‘justice’ to that poor murdered girl? Why our people are so obsessed with harthals
and strikes for every issue? Why don’t we think of any novel kind of protests?
Why don’t we think of those minority groups (daily wage earners) who really
suffer due to strikes and harthals? Today’s was the THIRD hartal we had in
Kerala. We already had approximately NINE state level harthals in 2018, till
date. Last year, by celebrating a harthal on the 16th of October,
2017, records say that we, Keralites have crossed the 1OOth strike last year.
I am apolitical when I say this. It is true that I too enjoy
when I get a day off. I do agree that it is a way of protest and if successful it
can bring about good results solving certain issues. We, Keralites are highly
literate. We are well aware of the rights and the freedom enshrined to us by
our Constitution. We do support most harthals if that is for good. And, we are
well known for our powerful civil society.
Yet, today majority of us . . . the most literate Keralites,
especially the youths became great fools due to this PRANK FAKE MESSAGE, the
idea which originated in the mind of some ‘Intellectual’ or ‘Mad guy’. Whoever
it be who created this hoax message, it is wrong in the eyes of law as this
hoax harthal call over Kathua incident triggered tension in our state. Yet, I
do consider it as an eye opener too. It showed us the great influence of Social
Media in our daily life. We believe the news circulated through it without any
question about its validity, truth or fakeness. We often receive hoax messages
through Whatsapp and Facebook. Some of us do share it with others even without
checking its truth. Thus, the fake news is circulated on a cyclic basis. Will
there be an end to it? Though there exists some cyber laws which prevent the
spreading of wrong messages, it still happens.
I too had some experience of receiving the hoax message.
But, I share it only after checking in the google to ensure its truth. Last day
too I did this. But, there was no such news. I was greatly confused when my
students told that today was harthal. My experience in the town (Thalassery)
too enhanced my doubts. I did not believe the news only because of my previous
experience of hoax message. So, I went for work today. I thought I was befooled
as I believed there was no harthal. But now, I am very happy that I was not
befooled as now the news came that: “Hoax harthal call over Kathua incident
triggers tension in Kerala”.
Yes. . . as said in the Whatsapp message, this hoax harthal
was successful in one sense as it proved the power of Social Media. It also
proved that many of us are mere slaves of Social Media.
I request all my readers to think twice before believing
what you read in Social Media and also recheck the validity or truth of such
messages or news you receive via Social Media before sharing it with your
friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. Let us make sure that we all do this from
next time if we receive any hoax message. Also, do your best to prevent the
circulation of hoax or outdated messages. Let us all join hands for all good
cause. Let this incident be an eye opener to all of us. Let’s act wisely from
here onwards.
Hoping for the best,👍👍👍
Sai Varenya.
🙂🙂🙂
