Media freedom under threat

The Modi Government’s effort to muzzle the media is manifest from several actions it has initiated during the recent years. The latest of it has come in the form of banning the screening of the documentary ‘India: The Modi Years’ on the 2002 Gujarat riots involving the killing of over 2,000 people, most of whom were Muslims.

The Government, besides banning it, has taken stringent measures against its screening in Jamia Millia Islamia and several other universities. The first reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs was: “Since it has not been screened in India, we cannot comment upon it.” But later, the same film was dubbed “a propaganda piece”, “lacking in objectivity” and “hangover of the colonial mindset”.

The facts highlighted by the film, meticulously documented from the clippings of the Indian press, were never repudiated by the mandarins of the high office. It is another matter that the ban came handy for popularising the documentary, which would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Several journalists including Siddique Kappan and Aasif Sultan have been imprisoned with concerted attempts to thwart bail applications.

Last year, the Government ordered Media One channel from Kerala out of the air with reasons for the same being submitted to the court in a sealed cover. It was the Supreme Court that lifted the stay on the ban by asking the Government to come clean on its act and provide the channel the reason so that it can defend itself. The nation was witness to the unprecedented raid conducted on the house of an editor (The Wire). And then there have been stories of takeover of the NDTV by a media tycoon in the good books of the double-engine government.

Doubtlessly, the channel was the one that would not baulk at calling a spade a spade. Frequent Internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir have earned the dubious distinction of the union territory being dubbed the ‘World capital of shutdowns’. The Modi years have witnessed the media coming under pressure, bans and prosecution of scribes negating the belief that freedom of expression is fortified within its Constitution, and journalists have their liberty to report without fear or favour protected.

No wonder then, why Indian ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has had a free fall during the years leading to India being ranked 135 out of 180 countries with even nations such as South Sudan being ranked ahead of it. The current ruling party’s veteran leader Mr LK Advani had famously said that “when asked to bend, the press crawled during the Emergency (1975-77)”. His silence at the current situation when it is overzealously wagging the tail at each and every hint and directive of the powers-that-be raises questions.

The takeover of the NDTV saddened many hearts and there was jubilation within the official corridors. But the BBC documentary and Hindenburg revelations have shown in ample measures that what the national media seeks to conceal may find exposure at global networks. And that may not be within the domain of the present dispensation to block.