Aastha

Protesting in an echo chamber

The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) on 10th and 11th December 2019, respectively. With 125 votes for and 105 against in the Upper House of the Parliament, the Indian people’s feelings about the bill were not unanimous. The enactment of the law sparked several protests all over the country. For a majority of the Indian youth, however, the issue truly hit home on the 15th December, when Delhi Police barged into the Jamia Millia Islamia campus, lobbed tear gas shells and severely injured numerous students. Since then, Gen Y and Z have taken the lead in dissenting against the ruling party. This dissent has been voiced in universities, at public monuments, on social media and in WhatsApp groups. At the same time, many states have seen a rise in police brutality and violence. Section 144 and internet shutdowns have become commonplace. A large number of people are being detained and many well-known activists have already been arrested. Nonetheless, the protests go on as social media users collate information about venues, arrests, SOS signals, medical and legal help etc. Indeed, in this largely youth-led movement, social media has played a very significant role. This is highlighted by the fact that the government’s first move to curb protests and mass mobilization is to block internet in an area. While social media provides a quick and instant way to spread information, it also leads to the formation of ‘echo chambers’. For most protest-goers, their primary sources of information about the CAA have been Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This means that they receive and send out information within networks that mostly consist of people who share similar beliefs and ideas. For instance, none of the 90 accounts I follow on Instagram are vocally pro-CAA, and none of my 290 followers have questioned my frequent anti-CAA posts. Eavesdrop on the conversations of the middle-aged men and women (or the so-called ‘boomers’) and you hear them speak about the protests as “something these young people are doing”. In this new, ‘digital’ decade, do all of us exist in our separate echo chambers - throwing the metaphorical ball of our opinions at people who would throw them back at us? Do protests all over India see essentially the same group of people over and over again? Is the modern Indian liberal excluding those who disagree?