Democracy strong, but weaponisation of social media a worry: Cong MP Manish Tewari

Congress leader and three term Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari on Thursday said Indian democracy was too deep to allow undemocratic regime changes like the ones seen in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and now Nepal but cautioned against weaponization of social media as witnessed in the 2010 Arab Spring.

Flagging a pattern to what happened in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and now Nepal, he said India should be concerned.

"We need to be concerned because there is obviously a pattern. Bangladesh went in 2024 and a technocrat Mohd Yunus, an expatriate was brought. Nepal has gone belly up a year later again more or less in the same manner and reports suggest another tehnocrat Kulman Ghising seems to be a frontrunner for the PM's post," Tewari said.

In an interview to The Tribune amid the Nepal crisis, the former union minister added that Indian democracy was too deep to allow undemocratic regime change but said an Arab Spring like weaponization of social media was a worry.

He described One Nation One Election and Delimitation as "ticking time bombs" advising the government to recess these and not rock the boat.

“Given the regional and international situation, concurrent conflicts -- Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas -- playing themselves out simultaneously, strong headwinds India is facing, we should not rock the boat. It is not in our interest to be opening up a number of Pandora's boxes -- ONOE, Delimitation. A wise government will recess these,” said Tewari adding that women’s reservation should happen by 2029 as part of a political consensus and one third seats of the current 543 member Lok Sabha should be reserved for women rather than in an expanded Lok Sabha post delimitation.

On colleague Krishna Allavaru’s remarks that dangers at home could rise if public anxieties around various issues were not addressed, Tewari said India had very deep democratic traditions.

“I do not think we need to be really worried that there could be an undemocratic regime change in India. My worry is what happened in the greater Middle East in 2010-11, the Arab Spring where you saw the weaponization of social media. South Asia has a very young demographic profile. There is a mismatch between aspirations and what the state can deliver. Therefore the ingredients for weaponization are all there,” said the Congress leader.

He said the worry was weaponization of social media because social media had become unsocial media today.

"Everyone who has an angst about anything is articulating it without hesitation. In addition you have semi state actors, state actors who have weaponized information. Algorithms operating today are beyond the comprehension of even those who created these platforms,” Tewari said, asking for caution.

The Chandigarh MP added that in the current phase of uncharted turbulence, the country needed to be extremely careful.

“To maintain the tranquillity of the oasis called India which has been able to, until now, notwithstanding inner contradictions, weather the storm, a wise government should recess controversial matters,” the three term MP said.

Making his case, Tewari cited the just concluded vice presidential poll to say when election cycles of the two highest offices of the land – President and V-P – can’t be aligned how can national and state election cycles be aligned.

On delimitation, Tewari flagged anxieties of southern and northern states and said both feel they would lose Lok Sabha seats in a delimitation process and the only gainers will be the central Indian states.

“So does the process augur well for the larger unity and integrity of India?” he asked, advising a pause.

Tewari said even a 543 member Lok Sabha was unmanageable today and asked, “If you cannot run a Lok Sabha with 543 seats properly how will you run a house with 800 members? You need a Parliament that functions, not just a federal legislative chamber for the sake of it.”

On the Caste Census exercise too, the senior Congress leader asked what the endgame would be and whether castes alone would be counted or even sub castes and gotras.