the facebook status that challenged and changed status quo

Little people with little political reach can make a lot of difference.   Social media can amplify voices   and effect social change. The little voices matter. The short  Facebook status , the "Like"  and the Tweet have added another dimension to  the Idea of Changing times.  This is change  that challenges political Status Quo.  Effectively.

The death of Bal Thackeray on Sunday was marked by a deluge of encomiums from the entire spectrum of politicians, businessmen and the Bollywood-elite who found unparalleled virtue on everything he did. Even his strongest detractors searched for euphemisms to whitewash the fear-factor that he and his party stood for.

There were indeed attempts of muted dissent, but the commentators — mostly writers and activists — ensured that their words were nuanced and balanced with unqualified praise. Live telecast kept reminding them that 2.4 million people were on the streets of Mumbai “mourning” his death.

But a day later, things have completely changed, thanks to two faceless young girls in Mumbai who spoke their mind on their Facebook pages and subsequently got picked up by local police.

What followed was an epidemic of dissent.

With a single stroke, unrestrained adulation for Thackeray by people ranging from Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar to President Pranab Mukerjee gave way to an outpouring of dissent by common people.

On twitter, Newsweek International editor Tunku Varadarajan was blunt: “OK, I say what no mainstream Indian journalist has had the balls/cojones/tattey to say: GOOD RIDDANCE THACKERAY. India’s now a better place”.

Another tweet, by Raheel Khursheed, said: “The message is clear: Indulge in violence, xenophobia, communalism — get a state funeral. Exercise ur right to free speech — get jailed.



”

The status messages, articles, tweets and re-tweets were repeated a thousand, perhaps, infinite, times, expressing an alternative view of the leader and what he stood for. The torrent of adulation and fear-speech were reversed.

But the change this gagged girl unleashed will be multiplied a thousand times in the coming days in India, however lumpenised its politics is and however brutal and rights-violative its law enforcement is. Every incident of free speech, and resistance to state brutality, however small it is, can now trigger a chain reaction.

The world has changed and the Indian politicians and governments will have to ultimately change. When nobody spoke against Thackeray out of fear, she did and the others followed. There will be a million Shaheens forcing this change in contemporary India.

\

http://www.firstpost.com/india/how-two-faceless-mumbai-girls-changed-the-thackeray-conversation-528988.html