It is not digital India but divisive India: Derek O'Brien

Kolkata: Protesting against the cases of online abuse, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien has once again taken a dig at the Centre, saying that "it is not digital India but divisive India."

This comes after the online abuse of Union minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. The MP had gone live on Facebook on Tuesday night.

He said: "What is going on online? This kind of threats, trolls and abusive tweets...and if this is happening to the Union minister of External Affairs of India and spokesperson of a national political party, you can imagine what common citizens are going through."

"Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was the first among all big political names who tweeted in support of Sushma Swaraj," he said.

Mamata Banerjee had tweeted: "Strongly condemn the language used on social media against @sushmaswaraj Ji. She is a senior politician. We must respect each other and must never indulge in any form of verbal abuse."

The MP maintained: "The first rule that I follow is that I immediately block anyone using abusive language and secondly, ignore such people. But what do you do when a Congress spokesperson's 10-year-old daughter gets a rape threat...this is serious...the best way is to go and lodge an FIR...It is not acceptable..."

He said: "We had raised the issue in Parliament on January 17 last year. Trinamool Congress had given two or three notices for discussion on the issue of social abuse."

He said: "We talk about digital India but a lot of this is divisive India," he maintained, adding that on October 2 in 2013, the would be PM, who was then Gujarat's Chief Minister, had tweeted that India is considered the fourth most dangerous nation for women.

"When will she feel safe and be a symbol of positivity? He had quoted a survey of Thomson Reuters...but recently, the same party's spokesperson said that Thomson Reuters survey is fake and justified the rape cases in India..." the MP said.

Referring to the Prime Minister's Parliamentary address in which he talked about women empowerment, Derek O'Brien has stated that Rs 100 to Rs 125 crore is the allocation for the entire country for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao project. While in Bengal, the Kanyashree Prakalpa has been allotted Rs 5,500 crore, under which 50 lakh girls have been benefitted.

He also put forward the figures of the National Crime Records Bureau, that show a steep increase in crimes against women and a drop in the rate of convictions in the country.