India's Silencing of Democracy - The Eurasia Center - South Asia Program

The Eurasia Center – South Asia Program

              India’s Silencing of Democracy

August 2021

               Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi Government of India: Website

                                     Rishi Parikh
                                     EURASIA NEWS
                                     The Eurasia Center
                                     South Asia Program
                                     www.EurasiaCenter.org

                                     www.eurasianbusiness.org

India’s Silencing of Democracy

                                 Prime Minister of India         Government of India: Website

Introduction

           Amid the second wave of COVID-19 that devastated India’s health infrastructure, Devangana Kalita and

Natasha Narwal alongside Asif Iqbal Tanha finally walked out of Delhi’s Tihar jail on bail and in a recent

interview, Narwal and Kalita spoke about their time in jail. They are quoted as saying "Jail is a dehumanizing,

destabilizing, brutal place. And during the pandemic, it reached a whole different level… we couldn’t get away

and no outside voice could reach us.”1 These two activists were arrested for allegedly being the “masterminds” of

the Delhi Riots in 2020. Under the “Unlawful Activists Prevention Act (UAPA)”, the two were charged and sent

to jail for apparently being terrorists. They deny these claims, however, they were the lucky ones. Stan Swamy,

the oldest political prisoner in India and a Jesuit Priest, died in jail after being denied bail as his health got worst.

He was charged under Indian terrorist laws for orchestrating the 2018 Bhima Koreagaon violence, having links to

Maoists, and plotting to assassinate Modi, which are all charges he denies.2 These draconian terrorist laws are one

1
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57648106
2
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/05/indias-oldest-political-prisoner-stan-swamy-dies-aged-84

of the many tools Modi utilizes to crack down on dissenters, so that he can pursue his larger pro-Indian nationalist

agenda. Are freedom, democracy and liberty gradually being undermined and diminished in the largest

democracy in the world?

                                                        Aijaz Rahi/AP

Locked Up

           Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, has become a controversial figure and has faced much

criticism from around the world, but that should not overshadow the vast amount of popularity and support he has

in India. As a right-wing Hindu nationalist and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he has worked to silence

critics, activists, students, and minorities to further his power and achieve his goals. Critics of the government

have faced arrests, beatings, abuse, and censorship. Modi has utilized Indian Penal Code Section 124A which is

an old British colonial law that was used to hurt Indians. It defines sedition and says, “whoever, by words, either

spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or

contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall

be punished.”3 He has also increased use in the UAPA law which was created as, “an act to provide for the more

effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and associations and dealing with terrorist

3
    https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/simply-put-sedition-law-what-courts-said-6254972/

activities and for matters connected therewith.”4 However, over time the law has faced amendments that

strengthened its power and has been used to arrest people who have criticized the government. For example, “the

2008 amendments to the UAPA expand the power of the central government to ban organizations and prosecute

their members… the amendments expanded those powers by increasing the number of criminal offenses linked to

association with or membership in a terrorist organization or gang, terms defined by reference to the vague and

overbroad definition of ‘terrorism’.”5 And then in 2019, there was an amendment that “will allow the Central

government to designate individuals as ‘terrorists’ without the exercise of due process of law.”6 These

amendments have hurt India’s democracy and these laws and articles have increased in use under Modi.

“According to the data, of 10,938 Indians accused of sedition over the last decade, 65% found themselves so

implicated after May 2014, when the Narendra Modi government came to power.”7 India has now been ranked

142 out of 180 on the 2021 World Press Freedom Index conducted by Reporters Without Borders8 and Freedom

House rated the country as “partly free”.9

4
  https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/UAPA-1967_0.pdf
5
  https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/07/27/back-future/indias-2008-counterterrorism-laws#
6
  https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/constitutionality-of-indias-unlawful-activities-prevention-amendment-bill-2019-indias-
mccarthyism-moment/
7
  https://www.newsclick.in/Jail-Conviction-65%25-Total-Sedition-Cases-Filed-Under-Modi-Regime-UAPA-Conviction-
Rate-Low-2.2%25
8
  https://rsf.org/en/ranking
9
  https://freedomhouse.org/country/india

Samuel Rajkumar/Reuters

        From the Delhi riots and India’s farmers protest to COVID-19 and the Kashmir annexation, Modi and his

ruling party have attempted to silence those who criticize the government and ruling party. Safoora Zargar is an

example of someone who has felt the brunt of this law. She was arrested during the Delhi riots and denied bail

while she was pregnant.10 Some other arrests made in connection to the Delhi riots include; Tahir Hussain, a local

political leader from Aam Aadmi Party, and Ishrat Jahan, a local leader from the Congress Party.11 Amit Shah, the

home minister, had said that 2,647 people have been arrested and detained in connection with the riots (the

number of arrests is disputed).12 The mass number of arrests is a way to deter protests, lock up critics, and silence

dissent. The government has also received criticism since they “arrested dozens of people during the nationwide

lockdown [in 2020], and human rights groups say many of the detentions are based on scant evidence.”13 They

took advantage of the pandemic and lockdown to pursue their agenda of locking up dissenters. The UAPA has

also been used to detain Kashmiris and portray them as terrorists. Kashmir is a disputed region occupied by both

10
   https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/15/india-end-bias-prosecuting-delhi-violence
11
   ibid
12
   https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/amit-shah-says-delhi-riots-controlled-within-36-hrs-
defends-police-120031101255_1.html
13
   https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/world/asia/india-activists-arrests-riots-coronavirus.html

Pakistan and India. In regard to India occupied Kashmir, the region was stripped of its quasi autonomy in 2019

through the revocation of Article 370. Bashir Ahmad Baba from Srinagar, Kashmir was recently acquitted for

lack of evidence in Anand, Gujarat after being charged with “recruiting boys into militancy and affiliation with

Hizbul Mujahideen handlers across the border on email and phone.” Baba was arrested in Anand and explains,

“Within six days in the city, I was picked up by the Anti-Terrorism Squad team. Later, in March, I was produced

before the media. I did not even know what the charges were as the charge sheet was in Gujarati.”14 He spent 11

years in jail and was denied bails many times. In his time, his father had died, and both of his sisters had been

married. The farmers protest also showed the extent of Modi’s hard hand on the country and the extent he is

willing to go to stop dissent. As the Farmers Protest made international news media and many people began

spreading awareness about the abuses occurring against protestors in the country, including celebrities, Modi

began to crack down. He had started arresting journalists covering the protests and activists such as Disha Ravi, a

22-year-old climate activist who was charged with sedition over a toolkit that was made to help support farmers

and protestors. Police claim the toolkits were part of a larger conspiracy and the public prosecutor said she was

part of the “Khalistan conspiracy”.15 In addition, on January 26th, a large farmers protest occurred in Delhi and

eight journalists were charged for covering it and these charges included, sedition, promoting communal

disharmony, and making statements prejudicial to national integration.16 The Editors Guild of India said the

police cases against journalists were, “an attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat, and stifle the media.”17 The

arrest of journalists is a huge concern because it is well known that “democracy dies in darkness”. As nationalism

spreads across the country, India continues to stop anybody who attempt to criticize the country and instantly

labels them as anti-nationalist, communist, Khalistan or an Islamist terrorist.

14
   https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i-chose-studies-to-stay-sane-kashmir-man-looks-back-at-11-years-in-
gujarat-jail-under-anti-terror-law/article35115264.ece
15
   https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2021/02/24/indian-authorities-target-activists-journalists-they-suppress-
support-farmers-protests/
16
   https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/02/india-journalists-covering-farmer-protests-charged#
17
   https://twitter.com/IndEditorsGuild/status/1355004155207667714

Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Online Censorship

        India also continues to shut down the internet when it deems necessary. India is one of the world leaders

in internet shutdowns. In 2018, they shut down the internet 134 times, in 2019 it was 106 times and in 2020, 129

times.18 This is all to stop protests from occurring and for criticism of the government to spread. In Kashmir on

August 5th, 2019, after the revocation of article 370, the Indian government had cut phones and internet for

months. The Kashmiri media had to send out news on USBs ferried by airline passengers.19 A journalist based in

Indian occupied Kashmir, Aarabu Ahmad Sultan, is quoted as saying, “"I was shocked to see almost 300

journalists in the center and everybody queuing up in front of the desktops to wait for their turn to access the

internet for 15 minutes.”20 The goal of the central Indian government is to not let the world see what is occurring

on in the region and to stop any protests from organizing. India also continues to wage war against social media,

especially Facebook and Twitter, in attempt to censor information that doesn’t show the government in good light

or what the government calls anti-nationalist.

                                                    Adnan Abidi/Reuters

        Twitter and Facebook have had ongoing issues with the BJP ruled government as Modi attempts to take

down certain accounts and tweets. At one point during the Farmers protest in India, Narendra Modi’s government

18
   https://internetshutdowns.in
19
   https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/759157602/kashmiri-journalists-find-creative-workarounds-to-media-blackout
20
   https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/media/kashmir-media-freedom-dst-hnk-intl/index.html

had demanded Twitter to take down more than 1,100 accounts and posts that the administration had said,

“accused the administration of trying to wipe out farmers.”21 They claimed the accounts and posts were supported

by Pakistan and Khalistan organizations. In a Transparency Report, released by Twitter, “96% of the total global

volume of requests originated from five countries; Japan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and India.”22 Twitter had

suspended 250 accounts, but then restored them because there was “insufficient justification” for the suspension

and Modi was furious and the government had threatened Twitter workers in India with seven years in prison.23

In response Twitter, suspended 500 accounts, but refused to block accounts to media companies and journalists,

activists and politicians.24 India then introduced new rules to completely regulate online content that includes;

social media messaging sites having to disclose to the government the original source of “mischievous

information”, erase content the government says is unlawful, require social media companies to assist

investigations by India’s law enforcement, and give power to the government to ban content affecting “the

sovereignty and integrity of India.”25 This is another example of Modi forcing social media to curb freedom of

speech and to regulate what can and cannot be seen by the people. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote,

“India has introduced draconian changes to its rules… [they] create new possibilities for government surveillance

of citizens. These rules threatened the idea of a free and open internet built on a bed rock on international human

rights standards.”26 Furthermore, the second wave of COVID-19 led to Modi facing a similar dilemma, with

many Indians taking to social media to criticize the government’s handling of the virus, as thousands started to

die due to the virus. While people were dying, Modi told social media to take down posts and tweets critical of

the government’s handling of the pandemic. One tweet included a link to a Vice News article about the Kumbh

Mela mass gathering and another one was a cartoon criticizing Modi for holding election rallies.27 Additionally,

police in late April had charged Shashank Yadav for “spreading a rumor over oxygen shortages ‘with intent to

cause… fear or alarm’”, however he had only sent out a tweet to try and find oxygen which is in short supply

21
   https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-defies-indian-government-and-refuses-to-remove-more-than-1-100-accounts-
over-farmer-protests-12213990
22
   https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/ttr-17
23
   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56007451
24
   ibid
25
   https://apnews.com/article/india-regulate-online-content-prasad-8f7d95dd7fcb5f524c2956e06e99b525
26
   https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/indias-strict-rules-online-intermediaries-undermine-freedom-expression
27
   https://www.vox.com/recode/22410931/india-pandemic-facebook-twitter-free-speech-modi-covid-19-censorship-
free-speech-takedown

across India.28 The BJP has been cracking down on anybody who exemplifies the COVID-19 crisis due to Modi’s

government being the main culprit of the country’s second wave. Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar

Pradesh and strong ally of Modi, had said all property of anyone spreading rumors or propaganda be seized.29 In

addition to all of this, the BJP run government has been criticized for hiding the true numbers of the COVID-19

crisis and the number of deaths and infections for the sake of saving face. This is beyond dangerous when dealing

with a pandemic as accurate numbers help officials deal with the spread of the virus. Bharamar Mukherjee, an

epidemiologist at University of Michigan had said, “it’s a complete massacre of data… we believe the true

number of deaths is two to five times what is being reported.”30

                                                     Amit Dave/Reuters

                                                 Conclusion

        India has had countless issues in recent years from deep societal divisions, a devastating pandemic, large

protests, and military conflicts, however their tactic of silencing those who criticize them will not turn out well.

As a secular democracy with a diverse population, they need to guarantee that there is freedom and liberty for all.

28
   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56894757
29
   ibid
30
   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-deaths.html

At this current moment, India is facing a crossroads of heading towards a stricter nationalist state or becoming a

liberal democracy that celebrates its large and diverse population. By focusing on silencing those who raise their

voices and hold the government accountable, the Indian government neglects the systematic issues that continue

to stop India from progressing further as a country and as a democracy.

                                                 Azad Essa/MEE