EDITORIAL: In its latest report the Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RWB), spotlights the new low media freedoms have hit in India.
In its World Press Freedom Index released on the World Press Freedom Day, India is ranked at 161 out of 184 countries, 11 spots below Pakistan’s 150th position — a bit better from the previous year’s 157. These rankings should be embarrassing for both countries, especially India styling itself as the ‘World’s largest democracy’.
Media in that country used to be independent, to a significant extent, of official influence until the far-right Hindu nationalist leader, Narendra Modi, became prime minister in 2014, forging mutually beneficial ties with big business. As the RWB notes, things began to change after Modi engineered a “spectacular rapprochement between his party, the BJP, and the big families dominated the media”, citing as a prime example the Reliance industries group led by Mukesh Ambani, “now a personal friend of Modi’s, who owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians.” Almost all media are now owned by multi-billionaire businessmen close to Modi.
No wonder what they dish out is Hindutva agitprop, in line with the agenda of the ruling BJP-RSS combine which wins them votes. Muslim minority is a fair game as discriminatory laws as well as atrocities committed against Muslims by Hindutva zealots are routinely ignored or even defended.
And Pakistan, another favourite target, is habitually berated by screaming talk show hosts. Journalists critical of the government do so at their own risk. The RWB report points out that Modi has an army of supporters who track down online reporting regarded as critic of the government and “wage horrific harassment campaigns against the sources”. Many journalists thus are “forced to censor themselves.” At present, 13 are in jail while one has been killed in the current year.
As is already known, the report goes on to state that the situation is very worrisome in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where journalists are harassed by police and paramilitaries, with some being subjected to so-called ‘provisional’ detention for several years. In fact, many publications in that troubled region have been forced to shut down, while foreign correspondents are barred entry.
There are limits even to what the foreign media can say about Modi, as the BBC learned to its chagrin when earlier this year it aired a documentary examining his role as chief minister of Gujarat in the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom. Not only was the documentary blocked online while the pro-government media attacked the broadcaster for its purported bias, tax officials also raided its offices in India.
Unfortunately, the US — which had refused to grant Modi visa, before he took the PM’s office, for his complicity in the Gujarat massacre —and other Western countries have chosen to turn a blind eye as the Modi government carries on with its Hindu nationalist agenda forcing Muslims to live in constant fear of life and loss of livelihoods. It can only be hoped pro-democracy people inside India who are struggling hard for restoration of the country’s founding principles of pluralism and secularism will succeed sooner rather than later.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023