Lucknow: We keep seeing examples of how big the uproar on social media sometimes takes. On one hand, social media has given people the power to raise their voice against the wrong, on the other hand, it has also given freedom to present facts in a wrong manner. In the battle between right and wrong, many times the right seems dwarfed in front of the fierce form of the wrong.
Recently on March 26, 2024, a military officer created a controversy by tweeting that he was offered bribe by IRCTC employees, in his post he asked people to make the video viral and the video went viral within a few hours. But within two hours, the said officer released another video calling the entire incident a misunderstanding and said that everything is fine. But the arrow had left the bow. Anti-government social media handles continued to share the video containing the allegation, ignoring the video of clarification. This situation underlines the importance of context and the possibility of misinformation being weaponized.
The officer who made the allegations clarified that the confusion was created due to the delay in the train timings, which led to breakfast being served before the scheduled time and lunch being served at the station at the time when breakfast was planned. The lunch menu was finalised by the officer himself, yet the change led to misunderstanding which later turned into a baseless allegation. It was also clarified that there was no attempt to bribe by IRCTC employees, terming the initial tweet as baseless.
The misunderstanding was cleared in just two hours and the tweet was also deleted. But despite the clarity on the entire incident, it did not escape the clutches of social media trolls. Giving the entire incident a political colour, social media handles that troll government departments tried to capitalise on it. The mindset of manipulating such incidents for political gains instead of focusing on real solutions is clearly visible in these trolls.
The broader context of this incident is important to understand the whole picture. Political entities and trolls often resort to isolated incidents to push their agenda, rather than engage in constructive discussions. This misuse of social media can deviate from the real issues and solutions that are in the public interest.
The recent misunderstanding involving IRCTC was resolved efficiently and amicably. The positive step taken by IRCTC needs to be noted while the attempt to misrepresent the entire incident and create a negative perception about the organisation among the general public must be recognised. As IRCTC continuously addresses such incidents, it is important for people to be cautious of those who try to sensationalise it.
IRCTC as an organisation has consistently displayed excellent service and transparency. Providing food to millions of people every day is a challenging task that IRCTC has been doing for years. It is not that the entire system is perfect, there are many shortcomings that need to be addressed, but it is also wrong to question the entire system on the basis of a few shortcomings.
