In democracy the right to dissent is undisputed and is part of the most fundamental right of Citizen to criticize the state, its policies and the working of other constitutional bodies. And in the current situation where coronavirus has forced people to be confined in solitude but still, there is something even Corona couldn’t stop is the voice of dissent today its more than easy to share your political opinion through social media, in this age of the Internet it just takes few minutes to post a tweet or start a signature campaign, giving people a platform to show their dissent on everything.

This possibility to express your anger virtually has created a strong boundary between people having different views. but still with all this boundaries and difference, this internet age has united us in one thing and that is getting offended and feeling oppressed. From politics, public policies , law enforcement to entertainment one will see at least a dozen of trends on social media either to boycott something or asking for apologies and it can be triggered by anything be it a festival greeting , a court judgement, movie ,book or a cartoon.

But who is to be blame for this is it the political system, judiciary, capitalism, socialism who will take responsibility for all of this, well your view will depend on which side of the room you are standing. Because today our views are shaped upon the news we are reading and that news depends upon the source it came from and at last the view thus formed can be modified depending upon the source of news. It’s just like standing inside a mirror room where the kind of image formed and we see is dependent upon the type of mirror we look upon and the moment that image is formed it starts a chain of reaction and the first stage of it is getting offended and feeling oppressed now from this stage the next stage is anger which eventually will lead to the last stage i.e. show of anger in a form of Tweet/protest or a numerous other violent ways.

This habit of getting offended is not new from ages the people are getting offended and protesting from The Satanic Verses to Charlie Hebdo to Padmaavat we have seen offended people coming out on the street to protest  but one thing which has spiced up this whole thing in the recent times is the availability to communicate or rather instigate and arrange these protests. With cheap data and Chinese mobile phones the information can travel lightning fast and with new and latest technologies its becoming increasingly tough even for the best intelligence agencies to keep a check of who is planning what.

But the real questions does the state feel a sense of responsibility of tackling this growing problem of people getting offended and sitting on roads, destroying public property or the state feel it’s a cheap and renewable source of energy which keep fuelling the propaganda system and keep warming the seat of power. Its about time the state should take responsibility upon itself to make sure the rights of peace loving citizens are not encroached by these offended people. It might look a small problem but visualize a large unemployed force of people who can be easily instigated and you will see a very horrifying image. Its about time leaders should stop using this force to fuel their political ambitions and let the law of land rule the country rather than allowing the law of mob rule. Also, its time for every citizen to understand and respect rights of each other and stop GETTING OFFENDED. Hope each one of us will realize that we need to be united in the spirit of a truly democratic Republic Nation and not in the spirit of Hatred or getting offended.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.