Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections verdict, a swarm of echo-chamber entitled analysts, commentators and pundits went red in the face, chanting ad nauseam the two words “fascism” and “authoritarianism”, while describing India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the verdict, many of them have switched gears and are now of the opinion that the lack of a full majority for the BJP and its reliance on alliance partners to run the government will compel Modi to the process of “steamrolling and emasculating all institutions” that protect democracy in India. Some who have suddenly become psychologists, apart from being political commentators, suggest that Modi is, by nature and mind, inherently dictatorial and will be unable to make compromises that are required to run a coalition government. They are eagerly waiting for Modi 3.0 to fall anytime soon.
Some others are of the opinion that the Modi government will unrepentantly intolerant and authoritarian towards critics, social media posts, activists and “independent” media that report and comment in a manner that shows the Modi government in a poor light. For this group of die-hard Modi-is-evil warriors, events in the previous few days have provided yet another opportunity. A French journalist, Sebastian Farcis has released a statement that made Indian “liberals” weep in sorrow. According to him, Farcis holds an OCI card that makes him an overseas Indian, has married an Indian and has been living happily in the country since 2011. Now that the Modi government has refused to extend his work permit or give him a new one, his family faces destitution and hence Farcis has been compelled to leave for France. The authors do not have any intention to argue if Farcis is being farcical. Nor will they comment on the saga of Sri Lanka-born Australian journalist Avani Dias, who claimed in April 2024 that she was forced to leave India as her work permit was cancelled or withdrawn or whatever. Australian media reports subsequently revealed that Dias was being a tad selfish with facts. As far as the authors are concerned, that is less important. For decades, the media and the community of “experts” in the western countries have played around with colonial era narratives while describing and analysing India. That will go on as more and more brown sepoys become their collaborators.
The more important issue here is: who exactly is stifling freedom of speech and the media? Even more important, as a community of peers, have media professionals become so divided over ideologically polarised lines that even attacks on journalists, activists and social media users will draw selective condemnation depending on whose freedom has been trampled upon? We have already seen this descent into purgatory over selective condemnations of sexual assaults of women. Now, the rot runs much deeper. The blindingly simple fact is: if the media fraternity is so divided that it can no longer raise a unified voice against attacks on free speech and individual liberty, the “state” will accelerate the process of stifling free speech and media freedom. Individual liberties, of course, will be collateral damage.
A few months ago, during the election campaign, some Congress supporters used AI to generate an allegedly fake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah where he is seen and heard saying the Modi government will end reservations for Dalits. A case was registered and Delhi police that comes under BJP arrested many Congress supporters. While media professionals supportive of the BJP supported the arrests, the “other side” condemned it as yet another assault on democracy. The almost permanent fracture in the media community was visible in the last few days over a YouTube post. Ajeet Bharti, who is a YouTube commentator, posted one sarcastic video on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The video was cropped and highlighted by a so-called fact checker, Mohammed Zubair that led to an FIR against Bharti in Bangalore in Congress-ruled Karnataka. Just a few days ago, a Bangalore police team landed up in the Noida residence of Bharti to “serve him a notice”. There was intervention by Noida police officials who were not informed and the Bangalore cops went away after “summoning” Bharti in a week’s time. While BJP-supporting journalists vehemently protested, there was stony silence from the “liberals”.
In Uttar Pradesh, a journalist from Kerala named Siddiqui Kappan had gone to Hathras to “cover” the notorious gang rape case of a Dalit girl, who subsequently died. Kappan was arrested by the UP police and serious charges were slapped against him. It took years for him to get bail. While the “liberals” lamented and protested, the BJP-supporting media labelled Kappan as a PFI saboteur. Around the same time, the Mumbai police arrested a well-known television anchor and the promoter of Republic TV and literally dragged him to jail after his office and colleagues were hounded for weeks by the cops “probing” various charges. Many “liberals” cheered and applauded, while a few issued token statements of protest while simultaneously insisting they despise his kind of journalism. The state was then ruled by the MVA with Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister. It took Arnab Goswami weeks to get bail.
Some time back, another YouTube commentator, Manish Kashyap from Bihar posted a video about alleged attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu by locals. A slew of serious charges was slapped against him and Kashyap spent many months in jail, both in Tamil Nadu and Bihar. Both states were “ruled” by Opposition parties. In 2022, when Ashok Gehlot was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, there were a series of FIRs filed against anchor Aman Chopra for seemingly “objectionable” remarks. Despite a High Court stay order, Rajasthan police came all the way to Noida to arrest Chopra, who had gone “underground”. Sometime in 2023, Bhawna Kishore was part of the team that covered the story about the massive amounts of public money allegedly spent on the house of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal. In May 2023, Punjab police (the state is run by AAP), arrested Kishore and SC/ST Act charges were slapped on her. In took severe strictures from the Punjab and Haryana High Court for her to be released.
The list is endless. The brutal fact is: all parties, the BJP, Congress and the regional outfits are guilty of being intolerant and brazenly authoritarian in misusing the police to intimidate critics. Another brutal fact is: condemnation and protests will depend on ideological divides. At this rate, the media in India is doomed.
* Yashwant Deshmukh is Founder & Editor in Chief of CVoter Foundation and Sutanu Guru is Executive Director.