The Republic of Social Media protest against #LBT

The Republic of Social Media protest against #LBT

The Local Body Tax has been quite the issue. What is it you ask? It’s a tax that traders will pay the local civic body for importing goods into the city. Sounds similar to Octroi? The point is, it’s a tax, another one added because inflation and other expenses are not enough. A week ago, retailers started protesting against the same. Some shops were shut, some weren’t, sporadic protests like everything in Mumbai, and we hardly noticed it. That’s the good and bad thing about this city, no matter how big the crisis, the city still continues, meandering around it.

But the smoke of this great fire can be seen…not in newspapers, not on radio but online. Twitter trend #lbt, Facebook group, #nolbt is filled with people speaking about it, revolting against it. Some posts are on the anger that seeps in about the media ignoring the issue. Someone posted the landline numbers of major newspapers and said that he has been calling them and asking them why they are not covering the issue. The protest is now not just against #LBT, it is also against the Indian Media for blacking out the demonstrations and protests.