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Can Modi Government Solve India’s Many Problems by Raiding Activists and Journalists?
In the middle of 2020, as the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was raging all around India, a Group of Ministers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration met six times to figure out how to “neutralise the people who are writing against the government”.
In most democracies, the idea of government officials and pro-government mediapersons gathering to discuss strategies to limit fundamental freedoms – and then putting their thoughts on paper – would be cause for a major scandal.
In Modi’s India, however, such behaviour is depressingly commonplace.
Consider the last few weeks alone.
On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate, the government’s economic investigation agency, conducted raids at the home and office of Harsh Mander, one of India’s pre-eminent human rights activists. On September 10, the Income Tax department raided the offices of Newslaundry and NewsClick, two news organisations that have been unafraid to call out government excesses. And on September 7, Uttar Pradesh police filed a police case against journalist Rana Ayyub for allegedly cheating donors her Covid-19 relief initiative, based on a complaint by a vitriolic organisation that calls itself Hindu IT Cell.
The government insists, as might be expected, that none of these actions are politically motivated, and that the law is simply following its course. Yet anyone who has observed the actions of India’s investigation agencies over the last few years, particularly in how the government has wielded them against political opponents, would know that the legal argument is simply a facade for targeted intimidatory tactics.
When the shoe is on the other foot, the government suddenly shows no interest in letting the law follow its course.
It has refused to investigate credible evidence, as identified by an American digital forensic firm, that malware was planted on the computer of Rona Wilson and other activists in the Bhima Koregaon case. It has repeatedly stonewalled the simplest of questions on the Pegasus leaks, which seem to suggest that the government was using spyware against political opponents, journalists and activists.
It has shown no interest in looking into allegations that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was gifted a bus by a Swedish automobile manufacturer in the hopes of winning contracts, even though the company has officially admitted to misconduct in India. In 2019, the Print carried a story making this point, listing out seven politicians with corruption charges who would not be raided by the government, underlining the clear political bias in the way investigating agencies are used.
Instead, the government has steadily sought to exert more control over the the media, bringing in regulations that have been called unconstitutional and encouraging the frivolous filing of police cases against those who raise questions.
The government’s attacks on free speech and its attempt to create an environment where criticism is not tolerated has not gone unnoticed globally. As Aakar Patel recently pointed out,
‘In the Economist Intelligence Unit “Democracy Index”, India has fallen from 27 to 53; on the CIVICUS National Civic Space Ratings, India has gone from “Obstructed” to “Repressed”; on the Freedom House Freedom in the World, India has gone from “Free” to “Partly Free”, and Kashmir from “Partly Free” to “Not Free”; on the Access to Info RTI Ratings index, India has fallen four places for being “less transparent” in government; on the Pew Religious Restrictions both social hostility and religious restrictions have worsened; on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index it has fallen two places; on the University of Gothenburg V-Dem Index India fell in “one of the most dramatic shifts among all countries in the world over the past 10 years”.’
While the latest actions against Mander, Ayyub and the news organisations have been condemned by civil society and international bodies, there appears to be little expectation that voices within government – or the judiciary – will speak up to defend the values protecting speech and dissent enshrined in the Constitution.
Instead, India seems to quite firmly be going down the path of further state intimidation. Modi’s government has evidently decided that the way to solve the many problems facing India – from economic concerns to healthcare struggles – is to suppress those who might speak the truth about them.
The country saw how well that went in April and May, when governments first tried to insist that the Covid-19 crisis was still under control. Predictably, the news organisation that did some of the most revelatory coverage of the horrific scenes and government failure at the time was raided by income tax authorities months later.
With the BJP leadership resorting to desperate measures to regain control of the narrative, like replacing a number of chief ministers and mounting a massive propaganda effort to shore up Modi’s image, it is unlikely to change its tone towards those asking questions anytime soon.
(Courtesy: Scroll.in.)
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Continued Harassment: Rights Activists, Academics Condemn ED Raids Against Harsh Mander
The Wire Staff
[As the Enforcement Directorate continued its raid on rights activist Harsh Mander’s home, office and a children’s home he helped set up, more than 500 academics, activists and others expressed their solidarity with Mander and condemned the ED action.
“We condemn these raids to harass and intimidate a leading human rights and peace activist who has done nothing but work for peace and harmony, consistently upholding the highest moral standards of honesty and probity,” the signatories said.
The ED on Thursday raided Mander’s home, the office of the Centre for Equity Studies which he runs, and the Ummeed Aman Ghar, a children’s home. This, the signatories argue, is nothing but targeted harassment by the Central government:
“Over the past year, Harsh Mander and the CES have been subjected to continued harassment by multiple state agencies. The false and malicious allegations by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) were definitively countered by the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), a statutory body, which has filed a strong affidavit in the Delhi High Court, putting an end to the false allegations against CES.
“CES has also been subjected to harassment by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), and the IT department. All these vindictive efforts combined, have showed neither diversion of money nor any violation of the law. The current raids by the ED and IT department are to be viewed in this context, as part of a continuing chain of abuse of state institutions to threaten, intimidate and try to silence every critic of the present government.”
Mander has been a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government, and his NGO’s research work has also highlighted the government’s failings in insuring an equitable, safe India for all. Mander and his wife had left on Wednesday night for Germany, where the activist is participating in a nine-month fellowship programme.
Find the full statement and list of signatories below.]
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This morning, September 16, 2021, officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at the offices of the Centre of Equity Studies (CES) Delhi, headed by Harsh Mander. They also raided his private home in Vasant Kunj. The Income Tax (IT) department has simultaneously raided one of the children’s shelter homes run by an allied institution – Ummeed Aman Ghar in Mehrauli. More details are awaited, as these raids are on-going.
Mr. Mander is currently in Berlin, Germany at the invitation of the Robert Bosch Academy to join them for the prestigious Richard Von Weizsacker Fellowship. The Robert Bosch Academy, founded in 2014 as an institution of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, offers international decision-makers, opinion leaders, and experts the opportunity for solution-oriented cooperation on issues of global relevance.
We condemn these raids to harass and intimidate a leading human rights and peace activist who has done nothing but work for peace and harmony, consistently upholding the highest moral standards of honesty and probity.
Over the past year, Harsh Mander and the CES have been subjected to continued harassment by multiple state agencies. The false and malicious allegations by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) were definitively countered by the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), a statutory body, which has filed a strong affidavit in the Delhi High Court, putting an end to the false allegations against CES.
CES has also been subjected to harassment by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), and the IT department. All these vindictive efforts combined, have showed neither diversion of money nor any violation of the law. The current raids by the ED and IT department are to be viewed in this context, as part of a continuing chain of abuse of state institutions to threaten, intimidate and try to silence every critic of the present government.
We stand with Harsh Mander and with each person associated with the Centre for Equity Studies. The Constitution of India and the law of the land shall prevail, exposing these intimidatory tactics exactly for what they are – an abuse of state institutions to try and curtail all our rights.
(Full list of signatories available on the The Wire website. Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Press Statement (September 11, 2021)
Income Tax “Surveys” at the Offices of News Websites
NewsClick and Newslaundry
Editors Guild
The Editors Guild of India is deeply disturbed about the Income Tax “surveys” at the offices of news websites NewsClick.in and Newslaundry.com
On September 10, 2021, teams of IT officials visited the offices of the two organisations and conducted investigations through the day. While they were officially labelled as “surveys” by the IT officials, but as per the statement issued by Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry, this was a clear intimidatory and blatant attack on their rights, and therefore press freedom. It is learnt that the IT team made clones of Sekhri’s mobile and laptop, as well as some other office machines, and no hash value was given to them. This is clearly beyond the mandate of surveys as defined under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, which only allows data pertaining to the investigation to be copied, and certainly not personal and professional data of journalists. It is also in violation of procedures laid out in the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Guild is deeply concerned that such indiscriminate seizure of journalists’ data, which could include sensitive information such as details of sources, stories under works and other journalistic data, is in violation of free speech and freedom of press.
This was the second visit by an Income Tax team at the office of Newslaundry, the earlier one being in June. In case of NewsClick, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raids at their office as well as homes of their senior journalists and officials in February 2021. Both NewsClick and Newslaundry have been critical of policies and functioning of the Union Government.
The dangerous trend of government agencies harassing and intimidating independent media must stop as it undermines our constitutional democracy. In July 2021, Income Tax raids were conducted at the offices of country’s leading newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, as well as a Lucknow based news channel, Bharat Samachar. These raids were conducted against the backdrop of some very critical coverage by both the news organisations on government’s handling of the pandemic.
The Guild demands that great care and sensitivity be shown in all such investigations so as to not undermine the rights of journalists and media organisations. Further, to ensure that such investigations are conducted within the prescribed rules and that they don’t degenerate into instruments of harassment to intimidate independent media.
Seema Mustafa, President; Sanjay Kapoor, General Secretary; Anant Nath, Treasurer
The Editors Guild of India
Address: 4/7- A, INS Building, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
