Even as questions are being raised about muck-raking ahead of the Presidential polls, political mud-slinging has gone hi-tech and evolved into cyber-slanging. Cyber communities have been formed that declare their hatred for political parties including the Congress and the BJP. There is a "We Hate Congress" community on Orkut, which has been logged on to by over 1,000 users, and attacks the ruling party on its home page saying "this is a party which institutionalised corruption in India". The Opposition has also not been spared with a hate community on the web calling itself "Say No to BJP and RSS." It welcomes bloggers with a "join this group to show that you hate them and their stupid thinking" line. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said hate groups have no place in vibrant democracies like India. He said the very essence of democracy is to channelise your antipathy through democratic means and not to resort to hate tactics. "Advantages of a border-less world cannot be curtailed for a few members of the lunatic fringe who are abusing this precious freedom," Singhvi said. Apart from anti-party blogs there are also some personality-based hate communities like "I Hate Indira Gandhi," "I Hate Rajshekhar Reddy" and "I Hate Deve Gowda" that receives posts filled with hate. (PTI) |