 "CM Chandrababu Naidu warned last week that reckless language on social media, especially directed at women, and promised that those who use it will be held accountable. PTI")
In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government has begun a major crackdown on YSR Congress Party supporters and social media activists.
According to media reports, between November 6 and 12, the state police issued 680 notices, registered 147 cases, and made 49 arrests.
The clampdown comes a week after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu stated that defaming women is not acceptable under the right to free expression.
“If anyone behaves like an animal, the government is going to treat them like an animal," he had warned.
Let’s take a closer look.
The social media crackdown in Andhra
More than 100 YSRCP activists have been detained throughout the state as part of the week-long police crackdown for allegedly sharing disparaging content on social media, as per The New Indian Express.
The authorities have also issued 680 notices, filed 147 charges, and made 49 arrests.
The alleged objectionable content posted by these activists targeted influential women: Home Minister V Anitha, TDP MLA and actor N Balakrishna’s wife Vasundhara, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s wife, Deputy CM and Jana Sena Party chief K Pawan Kalyan’s daughters, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President YS Sharmila and her mother YS Vijayamma.
Varra Ravindra Reddy, a 38-year-old YSRCP social media activist, is one of those arrested. He has been accused of uploading derogatory material that targets the top officials of the Andhra Pradesh government and their families. He was placed on 14-day court custody remand on Tuesday.
According to The New Indian Express, Ravindra managed over 40 YouTube channels that disseminated inappropriate content, especially directed at women leaders. According to the police, he confessed to sharing offensive material purportedly under the direction of Sajjala Bhargav Reddy, the YSRC social media in-charge.
According to the report which quoted Kurnool Range DIG Koya Praveen, special police teams have been established to apprehend other notable individuals, such as Bhargav Reddy, Arjun Reddy, a party activist and close aid of Jagan Mohan Reddy, and Raghava Reddy, an aide of Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy. Several social media activists are said to have gone into hiding.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPolice from Andhra Pradesh’s Maddipadu police station visited Hyderabad on Wednesday and gave filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma a notice, according to Deccan Herald.
He reportedly shared manipulated pictures of CM Naidu’s family members on social media. He has been summoned for questioning on November 19.
‘Reckless language on social media’
CM Chandrababu Naidu warned last week that reckless language on social media, especially directed at women, and promised that those who use it will be held accountable.
“The language on social media is reckless. They are making objectionable comments about women. Should we not take action? Should I ignore it? They have become criminals,” he said at a public meeting in Amaravati on November 7.
The CM claimed that YSRCP members were posting inappropriate material on social media with the intention of undermining the government.
Naidu added that freedom of speech is not an excuse for defaming women and that the state government would look into national and international laws to take action against those who commit character assassination.
He reiterated this warning in Srisailam two days later, saying, “You may have no respect for your family members, be it your mother or sister. But I have respect for them. Do not post anything that disrespects women, including the wives and daughters of the YSR Congress Party. I will not tolerate it if it happens.”
On Tuesday, APCC chief Sharmila accused her brother, YSRCP leader Jagan, of inciting the party’s members to post offensive content about her on social media.
She told the media in Vijayawada, “They (social media activists) spoke as they liked, about me, Sunitha (late YS Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter), and mother (YS Vijayamma). Jagan Mohan Reddy himself told them to make those indecent posts.”
Social media activists have become a “Satanic army,” she noted, while demanding action and regulation on the internet.
Opposition calls it ‘illegal detentions’
Former chief minister and leader of the YSRCP, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, denounced the arrests and claimed that the coalition government led by the TDP was engaging in vendetta politics.
“The government is targeting social media activists with harassment, illegal detentions and threats, directly attacking the constitutional right to freedom of speech. By suppressing these voices, the government is undermining democracy and violating the basic rights guaranteed to every citizen. This misuse of power shows a focus on political vendetta rather than upholding democratic values,” he said.
In addition, the YSRCP has given strong directives to its members and supporters that all social media activists should behave with dignity and refrain from using insulting language or posting anything that disparages women.
“Posts can be sarcastic. They can question the government on policy matters, but don’t use unparliamentary language against women. Morally also, it is not good. They (the government and TDP) are using this against us as a tool,” The New Indian Express quoted YSRC legal wing president, M Manohar Reddy, as saying in an ‘X’ spaces session conducted by the party’s social media wing.
He added that the party’s legal wing has begun reviewing the TDP’s social media teams’ posts from the previous several months, and asserted that the number of offensive posts from the TDP teams was significantly greater than that of the YSRC teams.
On behalf of Jagan, he further promised that the party would actively and legally fight any police cases.
With inputs from agencies