Coming out in support of young netizens for voicing their objections against State and Central government policies on social media, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said freedom of expression is an integral part of any democracy, and his party will stand firmly with these youngsters.
‘Youths being hounded’
Earlier, Mr. Pawar held a meeting with young netizens from across the State who have been sent notices by the police and called in for inquiries. “These youngsters are not from any political party, but they are facing problems for speaking out on social media. The police are charging them for this and issuing summons to them. My party will provide legal help if needed.”
Acting on a complaint filed last month by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s Officer of Special Duty (OSD) Nidhi Kamdar, police had arrested a young man who was operating an account under the assumed name of Dev Gaikwad. Following the arrest, several netizens on his friend list who had posts criticising government policies were also sent notices and questioned by the Cyber Crime cell. Several other vocal critics of the government’s policies have also been sent notices in various cases across the State. Mr. Pawar said, “What was the basis of this action? A young man was kept in prison for 27 days. I will personally taking up this issue with the CM. The concerned OSD was earlier a member of a particular political party.”
‘Waste of public money’
He said the government was wasting public money by hiring private firms to reverse the decline in the government’s popularity on social media. “What is the need to hire private firms when the government has its own publicity department? These companies are being approached now, when social media, which helped the government come to power, is going against it.”
