Sheetal Banchariya
Press freedom is as crucial to democracy as food for humans. However, in India, which is still a democratic nation, freedom of the press is on a downward road. But, what happens when the intricate threads of government and media are spun together, the end product is nothing more than a fabric of fascism.
In the recent arrest of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami house in connection with the death of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug in 2018, several politicians have raised their voices on social media platforms and microblogging sites including Twitter.
Union Cabinet Minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development in the BJP-led central government, Smriti Z Irani took to Twitter to urge people for their support for press freedom in India.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath too came in support of Arnab Goswami and blamed the Congress for trying to “suppress freedom of the press”. He said, “People have seen how for their agenda the Congress has arrested ArnabGoswami and assaulted the fourth pillar of democracy.”
However, BJP politicians only advocate press freedom in selective cases. The “assaults” on journalists only receive the attention of BJP ministers when certain journalists, who are claimed to have a right-wing ideology, are arrested or assaulted in non-BJP states.
Kuljeet Singh Chahal, general secretary of BJP in Delhi, took to Twitter to say that freedom of the press is being curbed in India with Arnab Goswami’s arrest.
But, sadly no minister came in support of press freedom when India’s press freedom rank dropped to 142 from 136 out of 180 countries in Press Freedom Index 2020. Currently, India lags behind some of its neighbours, including Myanmar (139), Afghanistan (122), Bhutan (67), Nepal (112), and Sri Lanka (127).
In 2019, a Kashmir-based journalist and the editor of The Kashmiriyat, Qazi Shibli was arrested and detained for over nine months in Bareilly jail for breaking a factually correct story on the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A. Several national and international organisations including Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Indian Journalists Union appealed for the release of Shibli but no BJP politicians uttered a word.
Similarly, a few months ago, when journalist Shahid Tantray and two colleagues were assaulted by a mob during a shoot for the Caravan magazine in northeast Delhi, no politician seemed concerned about the freedom of the press and no Twitter campaign was planned, no hashtag was trending.
Journalists in Kashmir including Fahad Shah were summoned to Police stations and harassed on several other occasions, Various others like Gowhar Geelani were booked under stringent law UAPA. Summons and arrest of Journalists have become an everyday affair in Kashmir, however, there is less talking about the issues journalists face day to day in Kashmir, the office of Kashmir times was recently shut in Srinagar, and the editor, Anuradha Bhasin was harassed too.
Attacks on journalists in India have increased since 2014. Nearly, 200 “serious instances” have happened with Indian journalists and around 40 have lost their lives. Of these 40 deaths, 21 were directly linked to their professional work.
Besides, freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for “objectionable” social media posts related to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. On June 6, Kanojia had shared a media outfit’s video in which a woman had professed her love for the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Yogi Adityanath’s government was quick enough to take action against a social media post than an action against a mass murderer.