NEW DELHI (AP) – When Vinod K. Jose, executive editor of The Caravan, India’s leading investigative magazine, went on Twitter on Monday, he was shocked to discover that the magazine’s account was blocked.
José was already dealing with a case of sedition and other charges against him, the magazine’s owners and a freelance journalist. At the center of the accusations is the magazine’s coverage of the ongoing farmers’ protests that have hit India for more than two months.
While farmers camp on the edge of the capital, protesting new agricultural laws that say they will devastate their earnings, traditional and social media are suffering unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Critics say she used the massive demonstrations to intensify the crackdown on freedom of expression, arresting journalists and freezing Twitter accounts.
“It is a very scary development for the press,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group.
Jose shared a screenshot of the blocked account for his personal identifier. Soon the indignation followed. Activists, journalists and media watchdogs rushed to condemn Twitter, which it said had acted on the basis of a “valid legal request” issued by an Indian official.
Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts, including news sites, activists and a farmers’ union, were suspended on Monday. Some, including the Caravan, have been restored.
Offline, at least nine journalists have been charged in recent weeks for covering the protests.
The trigger for the crackdown was the death of a protester, Navneet Singh, when peaceful rallies turned violent on January 26 after a group of farmers deviated from an agreed protest route and invaded the 17th century Red Fort in New Delhi . Hundreds of police and farmers were injured in the clashes.
Farmers’ leaders condemned the violence, but refused to cancel the protest.
Authorities say no shots were fired and Singh died because his tractor overturned. His family claimed he was shot dead. His account was published by several vehicles, including The Caravan.
Modi’s government ministers accused journalists and a prominent opposition parliamentarian of inciting hatred and jeopardizing the country’s integrity through inaccurate reports and tweets. This led to the filing of colonial-era sedition charges, which carry a maximum of five years in prison.
The law, like its counterpart in other former British colonies, is seen as draconian and was repealed in the UK in 2010.
Prosecutions for charges of sedition are rare, but their use to silence journalists, critics and dissidents in India is not new and previous governments have resorted to it. But official figures show that Modi’s government used the law more than any other – an increase of almost 30%. It also repeatedly rejected the demands to revoke it.
Calls and messages asking for comments from four BJP spokesmen went unanswered. Calls to the party’s press office were also unsuccessful.
Media watchdogs and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, condemned the government’s actions as censorship. The Editors Guild of India said the cases against journalists were “an attempt to intimidate, harass, intimidate and stifle the media”.
Daniel Bastard, head of the Asia-Pacific section of Reporters Without Borders, said the government is trying to impose its own narrative.
Critics say India under Modi is becoming intolerant. Its ranking on the World Press Freedom Index dropped each year, and came in 142th out of 180 places in 2020.
Reporters Without Borders pointed to “police violence against journalists” and increased “pressure on the media to follow the line of the Hindu nationalist government” as one of the main reasons for the demotion.
But, likewise, Twitter’s reaction to suspending accounts also “set a terrible precedent” for freedom of speech and the press, Jose said.
“We like Twitter to remain neutral instead of being vulnerable to the pressures of power,” he said.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in its notice to Twitter on Monday, said it instructed the company to withdraw accounts that used incendiary hashtags during the January 26 violence. But Jose said The Caravan never used such hashtags and that Twitter did not notify the magazine before suspending its account.
The ministry did not respond to calls and e-mails, but issued another statement on Wednesday, accusing Twitter of “unilaterally” restoring accounts “despite orders to retain them”.
He said the platform had to follow the instructions of the authorities and could face criminal charges “for failing to comply with government orders”.
Twitter declined to comment.
Gupta of the Internet Freedom Foundation said that the IT law the government invoked to freeze Twitter accounts gives it the power to target online intermediaries and Internet service providers to block certain content without providing any explanation.
“In the past, governments have blocked individual news accounts, but blocking an entire publication account is a level of escalation,” said Gupta.
The government’s response to farmers’ protests went beyond India’s borders.
On Wednesday, India’s Foreign Ministry condemned “vested interest groups that are trying to impose their agenda” after pop star Rihanna and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of the protests.
Artists in India were also not spared.
On January 1, Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested for allegedly insulting Hindu sentiments while performing in Indore, a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh that is governed by Modi’s party.
In India, intentionally injuring religious feelings is a criminal offense. But Faruqui was preemptively arrested before his presentation even started.
“Before he could make a joke, before he could even actually start the show, the police came and dragged him away,” said Anshuman Shrivastava, Faruqui’s lawyer.
The show was canceled and the police admitted they have no evidence against the comic. He received temporary bail from the Supreme Court on Friday after three lower courts refused to do so.
The Associated Press reached out to five prominent comedians who did not want to speak officially, but said they were increasingly afraid to make jokes against the Hindu government and religion.
“What we are witnessing now is a flagrant violation of freedom of expression in India, which the government has legitimized in public,” said Sanjay Rajoura, a prominent Indian satirist. “The government came after Muslims because they are an easily visible minority. But now he is coming after anyone with an intelligent and informed expression. “
The ire of Hindu nationalist groups aligned with Modi’s party has also caught streaming platforms off guard. Many of its programs have faced boycott calls and lawsuits. The Supreme Court recently issued a notice to Amazon Prime about its “Mirzapur” program after a petition alleged that it hurt cultural feelings.
Such incidents did not inspire much faith in the courts, said Jose of The Caravan. He and the owners are still battling criminal charges.
“I hope the courts will see that the world is watching how the judiciary of the greatest democracy upholds personal freedoms,” said Jose.