Addressing the second convocation at Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, Singh said the challenge also lies in looking at what is being done to “destroy the good systems in the country”.

Observing that lines are blurring between internal and external security with advent of “hybrid wars” and newer technologies, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that independent media, social media, NGOs and the judiciary are becoming fertile grounds for misuse by elements to establish and propagate dangerous and divisive ideas “in the name of freedom of expression”.

Addressing the second convocation at Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, Singh said the challenge also lies in looking at what is being done to “destroy the good systems in the country”.

Singh said: “Kahin social media swatantra hai toh uss par vyavasthit upaprachar kaise kiya jaye. Social media ka swatantra hona koi buri baat nahi hai — swatantra honi chahiye, media bhi swatantra honi chahiye — lekin media swatantra hai, iska durupyog kaise hota hai; kaise media ke andar abhivyakt ki swatantra ke naam par khatarnaak aur vibhajankari baaton ka sthapit aur usse pracharit karne ki koshish ki jaati hai. Yadi NGOs ki swatantrata hai, toh kaise inn NGOs ka aisa prayog kiya jaaye taaki desh ki poori system hi yeh paralyse kar de. Yadi judiciary swatantra hai toh kanooni dhang aur kanooni pechon ke dwaara kaise vikaas ke kaaryo ko roka jaaye, yeh koshish hoti hai… wadi dynamic democracy hai hamare desh ki, toh kaise political parties ke andar ghuspet karke uski ekta aur suraksha dono par bagair dikhe huye prahaar kiya jaaye. (An independent social media can be used to carry out systematic propaganda. Social media being independent is not thing — in fact it should be independent, media should be independent — but when the media is independent, efforts are made to misuse it in the name of freedom of expression to establish and propagate dangerous and divisive ideas. If NGOs are independent, then efforts are made to use them in a way that the entire system is paralysed. If the judiciary is independent, then legal norms and loopholes are used to stop development works. The country’s unity and security in our dynamic democracy is attempted to be attacked by infiltrating political parties.)”

Citing the violence at Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra in 2018 as an example, Singh said, “Hybrid war almost erases the line between internal and external security. It is not the age of a definite proclamation of war today but rather that of continuous warfare — be it cyberattacks on banking, transport or security systems, or attempts to create hatred and extremist views in society through social media…the Bhima Koregaon movement that spread across the country…. Later it emerged that 50 per cent of the tweets originated from Pakistan.”