The website of the digital magazine, Vikatan Plus, which has been in publication for over a century now, was blocked without any notice following the publication of a cartoon depicting Modi in chains sitting next to US President Donald Trump during their recent meeting in Washington DC.
Scores of journalists and office bearers of the Chennai Press Club held a protest in the city of Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday, February 18, against the Union Government of India’s attacks on the Tamil language magazine.
The cartoon, published on the website on February 10 was a reference to hundreds of Indian deportees arriving to the country from the US in chains.
The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting claimed the cartoon was a violation of the country’s Information Technology act and ordered its blocking on February 15. The website was later restored.
Criticism mounts over press freedom and government censorship
The protesters accused the ultra-right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government of violating the due process of law and attacking the freedom of the press in the country.
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. K. Stalin called the blocking of the website an assault on media freedom saying “such arbitrary censorship cannot be tolerated in a democratic society.” He even claimed that the move shows the “fascist nature of the BJP” and demanded the immediate removal of the blockade of the website.
Veteran journalist and former editor of The Hindu, N. Ram, called the blocking the website indefensible. He alleged that “it was done in a surreptitious manner and against natural justice and procedure established by law,” The Hindu reported.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Tamil Nadu State Secretary P. Shanmugan also criticized the ban on the Vikatan magazine over the publication of the cartoon. He said that the US putting chains on Indian deportees is the same as our prime minister being in chains. Instead of raising their voice against the atrocities against the Indians, the BJP government is trying to silence its critics in India.
A total of around 220 Indians have been deported to India so far under Trump’s attempts to deport all undocumented immigrants back to their countries of origin. The two batches of the deportees have arrived in India in military planes with their hands and legs chained. Deportees have even complained to Indian media that they were not provided adequate food and other minimum facilities during the long flight.
The mistreatment of the Indian deportees has become a major political issue in the country with the opposition demanding the Modi government to take steps to protect their dignity and basic human rights.
Growing threats to media freedom in India
The Editors Guild of India (EGI) issued a statement condemning the arbitrary action saying “cartoons have always been a legitimate means of journalistic endeavors and the sudden blocking of the Vikatan website is a brazen instance of overreach by the authorities.”
EGI’s statement also underlined that, “the entire episode smacks of high handedness and militates against the cherished ideas of a free press. The blocking of the website, coming amid growing concerns over media freedom in the country, does no good to India’s democratic traditions that value fair play and transparency.”
Press freedom in India has faced tremendous challenges under BJP rule. Several media organizations and journalists have faced attacks since the Modi government came to power in 2014. The press has been targeted for its critical stance on the Modi government’s policies and its failures. The attacks, both physical and legal in nature, have even forced some media organizations to shut down or completely switch to broadcasting pro-government content only.
In one significant example, the authorities in India filed cases against the owners of NDTV forcing them to sell their share in the company to a big corporate house considered close to the ruling administration, the Adani group. The union government banned one Malayalam-language channel, Media One, over its critical coverage of the 2020 Delhi riots. That ban was only overturned by the country’s highest court in 2023 after a years-long legal battle.
In another example, authorities raided BBC India’s office claiming “economic offenses.” The raid followed the broadcast of a two-part documentary on Modi’s role in anti-minority riots in Gujarat in 2002. The government has banned the broadcast of the documentary in India.
Newsclick has also suffered repeated attacks by several government agencies over the years, including the “illegal” arrest of its Editor-in-Chief, Prabir Purkayastha, last year over its coverage of working class and anti-imperialist movements.
Several journalists have been either arrested or faced threats over the last few years by both the authorities or the supporters of the Modi government for their work. There have been repeated allegations about the government pressuring media organizations to remove journalists critical to Modi or the policies of his government.
