NEW DELHI (AP) – When Vinod K. Jose, editor-in-chief of The Caravan, India’s leading research magazine, logged into Twitter on Monday, he was shocked to discover that the magazine’s account had been blocked.
Jose was already dealing with a case of sedition and other charges against him, magazine owners and a freelance journalist. At the heart of the allegations is the magazine’s coverage of the ongoing peasant protests that have gripped India for more than two months.
As farmers camp on the outskirts of the capital, protesting new agricultural laws that they believe will destroy their livelihoods, the mainstream and social media have come under unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party. Critics say it has used the massive demonstrations to escalate the crackdown on free speech, detain journalists and freeze Twitter accounts.
“It’s a very chilling 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 banned account through his personal account. Indignation soon followed. Activists, journalists and media watchdogs rushed to condemn Twitter, which said it had acted on the basis of a “valid legal request” from an Indian authority.
Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts, including those of news websites, activists and a farmers’ union, were suspended on Monday. Some, including The Caravan’s, have since been restored.
Offline, at least nine journalists have been charged with covering the protests in recent weeks.
The crackdown was triggered by the death of a protester, Navneet Singh, when the largely peaceful rallies on January 26 turned violent after a group of farmers deviated from an agreed protest route and stormed New Delhi’s 17th-century Red Fort. Hundreds of police officers and farmers were injured in skirmishes.
Peasant leaders condemned the violence but refused to call off the protest.
Authorities say no shots were fired and Singh died because his tractor fell over. His family claimed he was fatally shot. Their account has been published by several outlets, including The Caravan.
Ministers in Modi’s government accused the journalists and a prominent opposition MP of inciting hatred and endangering the country’s integrity through inaccurate reporting and tweets. It led to charges against colonial-era sedition, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The law, like its equivalent in other former British colonies, is considered draconian and was repealed in the UK in 2010.
Prosecution on incitement charges is rare, but its use to silence journalists, critics and dissenters in India is not new, and previous governments had resorted to it. But official data shows that Modi’s government has used the law more than any other – an increase of nearly 30%. It has also repeatedly declined requests to withdraw it.
Calls and messages asking for comment from four BJP spokespersons went unanswered. Calls to the party’s media 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, overwhelm and oppress the media.”
Daniel Bastard, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific desk, said the government was trying to impose its own story.
Critics say India is becoming intolerant under Modi. The ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has declined every year and is ranked 142nd out of 180 places in 2020.
Reporters Without Borders cited “police brutality against journalists” and increased “pressure on the media to follow the line of the Hindu nationalist government” as a major reason for the demotion.
Likewise, Twitter’s response to account suspension has also “set a terrible precedent” for freedom of expression and the press, Jose said.
“We want Twitter to be neutral rather than vulnerable to the power pressures,” he said.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in its message to Twitter on Monday that it had ordered the company to remove accounts that had used inflammatory hashtags during the January 26 violence. But Jose said The Caravan has never used such hashtags and Twitter did not notify the magazine before suspending its account.
The ministry did not respond to phone calls and emails, but issued a statement on Wednesday, accusing Twitter of “unilaterally” restoring the accounts “despite orders to withhold them.”
It said the platform had to abide by the instructions of the authorities and could potentially face criminal charges “for failure to comply with government contracts.”
Twitter declined to comment.
Gupta of the Internet Freedom Foundation said the IT law that the government has invoked to freeze Twitter accounts gives it the power to instruct online intermediaries and ISPs to block certain content without providing any explanation.
“In the past, governments have blocked individual journalistic accounts, but blocking an account from full publication is a level of escalation,” Gupta said.
The government’s response to the peasant protests extends beyond India’s borders.
On Wednesday, the Indian Foreign Ministry condemned “vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda” after pop star Rihanna and teen climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of the protests.
Entertainers in India have not been spared either.
On January 1, Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested for allegedly insulting Hindu sentiments while performing in Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh state ruled by Modi’s party.
In India, deliberately hurting religious feelings is a criminal offense. But Faruqui was preemptively arrested before his performance even began.
“Before he could even joke, before he could even actually start the show, the police came to drag him away,” said Anshuman Shrivastava, Faruqui’s lawyer.
The show was canceled, and police have since admitted they have no evidence against the comic. On Friday, he received a provisional bail from the Supreme Court, after three lower courts refused.
The Associated Press contacted five prominent comedians who declined to speak, but said they were increasingly afraid to joke against the government and the Hindu religion.
“What we are now witnessing is a blatant violation of freedom of expression in India, which the government has legitimized in full public opinion,” said Sanjay Rajoura, a prominent Indian satirist. “The government came after Muslims first because they are an easily visible minority. But now it comes after anyone who has an informed, intelligent expression. “
The anger of Hindu nationalist groups aligned with Modi’s party has also caught streaming platforms by surprise. Many of their shows have dealt with boycott calls and legal matters. Recently, the Supreme Court messaged Amazon Prime about its show “Mirzapur” after a petition claimed it hurt cultural sentiments.
Such incidents have not instilled much confidence in the courts, said Jose of The Caravan. He and the owners are still fighting criminal charges.
“I hope the courts see the world watching the judiciary of the greatest democracy defend personal freedoms,” Jose said.