We brought to you the most read articles on OpIndia.com for 2016, now we bring to you the must-reads of 2016 (well, we chose a random number 6 and tried to fit only as much, because otherwise we would have got such a long list, thanks to so many wonderful articles we received from our contributors):
It was early 2016, just after the JNU sloganeering incident, and Barkha Dutt promptly wrote a piece defending the sloganeers at JNU. But this was 2016, and we had social media on our side. And @UnSubtleDesi gave a fitting reply to Barkha Dutt’s letter. Dutt’s whitewash effort was torn down argument by argument.
Read: Open Letter to Barkha Dutt from a Social Media Sanghi communal troll
And perhaps, it was this unfettered power of social media, which had the people in the Ivory towers trembling. From there, began what seemed to be, a campaign to label every opposing voice as a “troll”, and thus an attempt was being made to silence the voices on social media. @shwetankbhushan showed us how NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, asking for “control” over “disgusting toxic trolls” was nothing but a smokescreen to establish control over social media. This narrative further played out later, when Maneka Gandhi foolhardily tried to police social media, and more recently, when a lying journalist once again tried to malign social media voices. A prescient piece by Shwetank Bhushan indeed.
Read: Bogey against Social Media “trolling”, a conspiracy against Free Speech in virtual world?
But this narrative against trolls failed because, like most campaigns led by the media, this was thoroughly partisan. An effort was made to portray as if all trolls emanated from the right wing political spectrum. To counter this, @ShefVaidya highlighted how she, her family and her kids were subjected to the vilest of “trolling” and abuses on social media. No Prannoy Roy wept for her though.
Read: Slander and abuse that right-wing women face on social media, which MSM ignores
Speaking of trolls, it was also the year when troll-in-chief Arvind Kejriwal’s so-called governance plan was exposed. It was up to @shwetankbhushan again to showcase Delhi’s plight to the country. Delhi was not getting even the basics right: Power was not as cheap as advertised, nor was it regular in supply, water woes continued, drainage had gone to the dogs leading to an epidemic. Delhiites may forgive Kejriwal for all his rants and antics, but will they forgive him for his misgovernance?
Read: His Honesty Kejriwal flying around while Delhi crying for Basics!
When we speak of forgiveness, we must speak about 2016 as the year when NDTV, one of the most left-leaning English media channels, was forced to apologise. Not forced by the Government or any judicial body, but by an ordinary Indian, the ubiquitous “troll”, as Prannoy Roy would call him. Read how an ordinary Indian used the tools at hand, to make sure NDTV apologises for its error. This indeed would serve as an inspiration many of us.
Read: How a social media user has forced NDTV into apologising for their “error”
From apologies, we move to apologists, and stand-up comedian @Nitin_Rivaldo, who in his searing piece titled “The apologists of Islamic terrorism, and their flawed arguments” destroyed all arguments of these apologists. The article was shared massively on the social media, and it deserves to be read and shared once again.
