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Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

219 points by nigerian1981 5y ago

heikrana 5y ago
"In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting." Illegal housing was demolished without taking any religion into consideration.
- Zafira 5y ago
  Discriminatory uses of impartial law is totally a thing, though. Now, then and (likely) forever.
- mayankkaizen 5y ago
  I am bring lazy but I can cite at least 200 cases (from recent past) where Modi regime (mis)used government agencies to harass its critics/opponents/muslims and timing of each misuse was impeccable. As a case study, just see the use of ED in last 12 months alone. There is a remarkable pattern. Some person/org become critical of Modi and in next few days, he is arrested/detained/raided. Of course Modi regime maintained that agencies were working independently and without any political motives. And naive people like you agree.
koshergweilo 5y ago
I admit I'm not super familiar with India's freedom of speech, is this a backslide or has it always been like this?
- walrus01 5y ago
  the instances of the Indian government censoring the internet are numerous and well documented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India
- noarchy 5y ago
  If we start to get a lot of comments here, pay attention. You'll likely see confirmation of recent trends in India. I suspect we're already seeing that, even with the few comments that have been posted so far.
  - danamit 5y ago
    I thought it will be different from Twitter and YouTube comments, sad to see Indian IT professionals being part of that too.
    - formerkrogemp 5y ago
      It's only less pronounced for American IT professionals defending the US reputation as y'all have more of a contrarían streak. I think if anything Americans online are more prone to criticize their own country than other places specifically because we have decent freedom of speech.
      - stjohnswarts 5y ago
        ... for now. The right wing SCOTUS is likely to begin upholding racist, sexist, and political decisions as okay in republicans states, they (the 5 far right members) have made no qualms about putting out feelers for such cases in the past, we are just beginning to see how bad it's going to get with challenges to Roe v. Wade (soon to be completely upended), voters rights, and various other cases in the pipeline
    - shasts 5y ago
      Majority of Indians IT professionals or majority who has attended college in India are upper caste folks, the main supporters of current ruling party. So the trend is not surprising. Many of them migrated to West and continue to do the same caste things even in silicon valley. Google the Cisco caste discrimination incident.
      - muzaffarpur 5y ago
        I doubt it. On an average around 70% of seats are reserved (affirmative action) for lower caste students. The difference of admission cutoffs is like day and night. I wouldn't be surprise that people from upper caste don't feel particularly well, for being lawfully, indefinite discrimination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India
- leephillips 5y ago
  India never had freedom of speech. Opposition newspapers are often harassed and shut down. They have a law criminalizing offending religious feelings. This is not an exaggerated paraphrase, that’s what the law says. A scientist was convicted under this law a few years ago for demonstrating that a “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary was not actually weeping blood. The truth was offensive, so the law applied. EDIT: I remembered inaccurately. It was a statue of the crucified Jesus, not Mary.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - imdhmd 5y ago
    There is a difference between a law in paper and its enactment. There are various laws in the constitution of india that can be conveniently represented to prosecute someone on the basis of their speech. There is significant evidence of such happenings only increasing lately
  - stickfigure 5y ago
    Your point still stands, but there was never a formal prosecution or conviction (he fled to Finland before it got that far): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_crucifix_in_Mumbai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_crucifix_in_Mumbai
    - leephillips 5y ago
      Thanks for the clarification (I was going by memory). So he was arrested, and presumably would have been prosecuted had he not escaped.
  - bruceb 5y ago
    He was gone after not because of proving it false, but because he accused the church of purposefully lying I believe. One could call it not much different but it isn't the exact same as being prosecuted for debunking a "miracle" From wikipedia: he skeptic-rationalist author Sanal Edamaruku proved that the water stemmed from a faulty sewage system, which seeped due to capillary action. However, Edamaruku also accused Latin Christian priests of regularly scamming devotees and defrauding miracles to make money, and build bigger and newer churchs or convents,[1] and mocked the Pope as "anti-science".[2] A church representative admitted Edamaruku had the "right to doubt", and Christian activists said that the backlash was not for debunking the alleged "miracle" but for the defamatory statements made live on television.[3]
- danamit 5y ago
  I remember stories of people beaten up for not standing for the anthem in the cinema, one of them was disabled wheelchair user. So I guess it is like that for a while especially after the Hindutvas got into power.
  - zapdrive 5y ago
    Oh yeah, freedom of speech flourished under Congress rule /s Who was the only prime minister to invoke emergency?
    - webartisan 5y ago
      [flagged]
    - MrBlueIncognito 5y ago
      The Nazis killed millions through their actions. Will that justify you killing even one?
      - mayankkaizen 5y ago
        RSS is the ideological parent of currently ruling political party (BJP). The second head and most powerful figure in RSS history was Golwalkar and he openly praised Hitler for 'fighting for his culture'. https://thewire.in/politics/culture-ministry-ms-golwalkar-hitler-caste-muslim-rss https://thewire.in/politics/culture-ministry-ms-golwalkar-hi...
    - mayankkaizen 5y ago
      Indira wasn't a saint but Modi is evil personified. Emergency was invoked and was soon revoked. If you are careful, you can see India is now again under Emergency since 2015. And things are getting worse. The difference between 1975 and 2015 is that earlier it was declared openly but in present case it wasn't declared, rather it was systemically implemented by developing a hate mongering Hindutva brigade. Press freedom was gone for may be one year during 1975. But now? It is gone for good 5 years. In 1975, no particular community was targeted. Now? Every muslim is at risk. Heck, even Hindus who are anti-Modi are at risks. During 1975, journalists were able to protest against Indira Gandhi. And now? You'd be put in jail for whatever reason. No journlist can dare to oppose Modi. India is in worse condition now than it was in 1975.
- srvmshr 5y ago
  Freedom & freedom of speech aren't equivalent ideas, and most of us Indians do not correctly identify the subtle difference. Hence speech and opinions come under vicious attack instead of productive participation. India sees journalism taking camps (since the era of Mrs. Indira Gandhi' premiership). There are national newspapers & media channels who very overtly align with the political parties. Speaking your mind out comes with its own consequences.
  - koshergweilo 5y ago
    Sure even the freest of speech is not free of consequences, but this seems to be a case of the state punishing a specific person for his speech. Partisan media is one thing but this seems to be something entirely different
- actuator 5y ago
  No, it hasn't been a backslide, it has been always like this. While media in the west will pick certain stories, you can find such events all across the political spectrum. A much lauded and young people supported newcomer party used the police against the members of the party in power at the national level as soon as they came to power in a state and got hold of the police there. It is sad but when courts won't act in time, this abuse of law will keep happening.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  Absolute freedom of speech is a US Bill of Rights thing, and we backslide when it comes to political or sexual speech, e.g. with political Islam in the 21st century; Communism/Socialism/Anarchism in the early 20th century; and constantly when it comes to anything sexual, especially information about birth control, anything gay, anything involving miscegenation, or anything else that embarrasses a judge or gives him an erection. The difference between the US and other places is that these things are usually reverted after a few decades by appeal to a clearly written first amendment. The most dangerous assault on US freedom of speech has been copyright, which has become an pretense to monitor all communications since sending information about birth control or sending porn through the mail ceased to be a public priority. Vaguely defined "hate speech" is creeping up on becoming a reason for government censorship through the backdoor of "hate crime." "Hate crimes" are proved by proving a regular old crime was committed, then poring through the history of the person who committed the crime looking for "hate speech." "Hate speech" could certainly eventually expand to be indistinguishable from lèse majesté. A certain type of mind can see criticism of the President as a "hate crime."
- mayankkaizen 5y ago
  Let me tell you my anecdotal experience. Modi came in power in 2014 and till than I was BJP (Modi's party) supporter. Then I began to see how dangerous Modi is to society as a whole. In short, he is modern, complex sophisticated version of Nazi ideology. He carefully raised an army of hindu rightwing members who are bigots, intolerant and full of hate. He doesn't belive in democracy, freedom of speech, human rights, tolerance, diversity, press freedom and stuffs like that. Anyway... Earlier I (and every other Modi opponent I know) would openly criticize him on various SM platofrms or whatsapp groups. Now we just stay silent. We now dont even talk anything against him even in familiar circles. Why? Because we are afraid. You may get beaten. You may be arrested. You may be shunned. I live in an apartment in Delhi and there is a whatsapp group for that apartment where we share and discuss apartment related issues. Some Modi supporters often post highly inflammble propagandist anti muslims post on regular basis. One guy politely objected to it. He was immediatly declared anti-hindu and anti India. He was removed from the group. He was 'politely' told that he should be careful in future. The friendly neighbors have turned foes. Even I was cornered and declared anti-national many times (luckily by people who were otherwise friendly to me.) This is happening all around in India. If you aren't Modi supporter, just keep your mouth shut.
  - hef19898 5y ago
    That's right from the Nazi playbook, and extremely scary...
    - throwaway38471 5y ago
      And PM of India also does a regular monologue which is broadcasted across all govt news channels, radio stations, translated to multiple languages, sent through mobile app of govt/pm. They even spam you on your emails if you ever used your email to deal with govt services. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Ki_Baat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Ki_Baat
      - mayankkaizen 5y ago
        And yet he is so coward that he always avoid interviews, except for may be 2-3 interviews (read PR stunts) which were conducted by sycophants like Rajat Sharma who has dedicated his life to Modi. Other than that, he never faced any open interview in his 8 years tenure as a PM of biggest democracy.
- throwaway0x7E6 5y ago
  "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences"
- naruvimama 5y ago
  The current Modi government is held to a much higher standard than the previous congress dynasty. Freedom of speech is much worse in non BJP states like Tamil Nadu. There is a huge cabal of bureaucracy, media, academia, judiciary and foreign institutions that profited handsomely under the corruption ecosystem built by the congress. They are infuriated by the people's choice of a more honest and a non-dynast like Modi.
  - mayankkaizen 5y ago
    Until 2014, BJP was the only democratic party in India which wasn't run by a authoritarian person. Current BJP is now the most authoritarian party where Modi-Shah call the shots. Can you name even a single person who is critical of Modi and still is in BJP? Who opposed ANY decision of Modi government? If you think Gandhi dynasty was corrupt then why Modi wasn't able to put them in jail? Why didn't he press any charges against them? Again, if you believe Gandhis were corrupt then you should also believe Modi got innocents murdered. He committed genocide and there is no bigger crime than genocide. I opposed Congress when it was in power without any fear. Initially I opposed Modi too but not anymore. Why? Because I'm scared for my life. That is the difference between Congress and BJP.
    - muzaffarpur 5y ago
      Question is, if Modi is culprit, why he is not in jail. Congress was in power for atleast 5 years or so, post Godhara. That's how the country is. There is no rule of law and for sure there was never rule of law for politicians). If you have lived in India, you would know there is no difference in Modi or Congress or anyone else. Politicians are gangsters. Modi has done what congress did early. Congress consolidated Muslim votes at the expense of Hindu sentiments, and Modi has done exactly opposite. He has consolidated Hindu votes at the expanse of Muslim sentiments. They are all same. I wonder how was it possible (I mean where the courage stems from) that supposedly minority group can burn alive hundreds of pilgrims without thinking of consequences. How did kashmiri muslims assumed that there'll be no repercussions of kicking out Hindus from Jammu (oh they didn't leave due to minor inconvenience). The resentment wasn't build in a day(I believe Congress was ruling India in 1990). What did congress government do? Nothing. So to conclude, congress and BJP are equivalent.
- FerociousTimes 5y ago
  India ranks 142nd on the World Press Freedom Index for 2021 [1] out of 180 countries tracked by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a very embarrassing ranking for the world's most populous or largest democracy. [1]: https://rsf.org/en/ranking https://rsf.org/en/ranking
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  I was curious about this myself and wondering if Modi is on his way to being the next Putin/Xi and declaring himself dictator for life.
amriksohata 5y ago
Bit of an odd article, man makes defamatory and false tweet, gets arrested for defamation, cries free speech? Making such a remark is equivalent of calling someone here a nazi etc. Hardly newsworthy
- zozbot234 5y ago
  Adding to your point, people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too. Yet I have not seen much concern for free speech rights in the Grauniad. Why is India being singled out here? It looks like old colonial attitudes resurfacing again, where exotic colonial dependents are always stereotyped as "backward".
  - leephillips 5y ago
    Same weird misspelling of the newspaper’s name in two different comments? How does that happen?
    - nabusman 5y ago
      It's a reference to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%20typographical%20errors%20during%20the,the%20editors%20for%20self%2Dmockery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%....
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too A member of Parliament? For something as vague as “attempting to disturb ‘public tranquillity and peace’”? > old colonial attitudes When non-MP Brits were arrested for similar nonsense, was the public’s response whataboutism and appeals to colonial victimhood?
- amriksohata 5y ago
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1024core 5y ago
Boris Johnson arrived in India. Rabble-rousers know that the world's media attention will follow; and they use this opportunity to garner some of the spotlight. It's just a shameless ploy to get their names out. Such is democracy, I guess. And the Guardian doesn't help by adding flame bait such as this: "In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting." Illegal construction, encroachment on public land will sometimes get this response. Of course, due to vote bank politics, this may not always happen; but it does.
- stickfigure 5y ago
  About the content of the tweets, the article says: But Mevani tweeted this week that Modi “worships and considers Godse as God”, accusing the prime minister of fomenting religious division. He also demanded that Modi apologise for communal violence in Gujarat, where Mevani is a member of the state legislature. Assuming this representation of the tweets is accurate, are you saying that posting them should be an arrestable offense?
  - deleted 5y ago
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- deleted 5y ago
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- CtznIndn 5y ago
  This is a very ingenuous take, trying to shield the wrong doings by Current Gov. First, Illegal encroachments were not bulldozed. People had valid documents proving the legitimacy of their houses. Also, the Supreme Court ordered for the demolitions to stop, but the houses and shops of people were still razed to ground. The Rabble rousers were people who were undertaking religious processions with swords and guns raised in front of mosques, mocking and troubling Muslims. They even hoisted saffron flags over the mosques. Rabble rousers are those who are continuously giving calls for genocide of Muslims in Dharm sansads, publicly. And PM of India has stayed mum all through out. What Guardian said is absolutely right. It's not flame-bait. Such is Democracy, I guess.
- 5y ago
juanani 5y ago
morekozhambu 5y ago
mohanmcgeek 5y ago
- veonik 5y ago
  There's a ton of posts on here completely unrelated to programming, why not this one too?
  - mohanmcgeek 5y ago
    yes. Let's turn this place into r/technology
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.
- neophyt3 5y ago
- hknapp 5y ago
  > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - deleted 5y ago
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  - ra7 5y ago
    Also in the guidelines. > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. This story is surely closer to politics than to intellectual curiosity?
naruvimama 5y ago
- groos 5y ago
  Didn't expect to see whataboutism and Islamophobia on this site but I guess I should have low expectations from those supporting Modi and his fascist regime.
  - naruvimama 5y ago
    - pasabagi 5y ago
      > as they are The current PM called muslim women 'letter boxes'. You've clearly never been to the UK. I'm sure if you had a basic familiarity, you'd rest comfortably in the knowledge that the state there is just as disgustingly bigoted as you are.
- CtznIndn 5y ago
  UK is half way to Sharia?! It's not true, but even it is, why has that got to do with the criticism? There are continuous calls in India for genocide of Muslims, publicly. Past two weeks, religious processions have been undertaken by Hindu extremist orgs in front of mosques with swords and Guns, mocking Muslims. And PM of the Nation has been silent, with no calls whatsoever for peace. It's not 'funny' to criticize PM of Nation to do his duty to people of the nation. And it's not funny that Guardian is reporting it. People living in India know how terrifying the situation has become due to these repeated calls for Violence against Muslims
  - naruvimama 5y ago
    If you have not noticed there was rioting in Sweden, attacks on Easter parade in Spain, and multiple counts of riots and attacks on Hindu processions in India. Perhaps it is a correlation between hunger and anger, or perhaps the more regular congregation is convenient opportunity for riots.
naruvimama 5y ago
- CtznIndn 5y ago
  Guardian is not 'The west'. It's a News organization. It is neither a representative or an official mouthpiece for 'The west'. Guardian is not finger pointing as well, It's doing it's job, which is reporting the events. And the criticism is absolutely valid. This deflection and tangential remarks are not suitable for Hacker News.
  - givemeethekeys 5y ago
    Since when did Newspapers become independent?
  - naruvimama 5y ago
    It is one of several patterns I have just noticed in the past couple of weeks US made a human rights comment. Germany media made a big deal about the oil purchase, trying to deflect attention from their own increased purchase. And as a former colonialist I couldn't expect the UK not come up with it's own act. Collective guilt works both ways especially among democratic countries of which India is thr largest and US the oldest.
- einszwei 5y ago
  How is that relevant to the topic at hand? Please don't resort to whataboutery and lower the standard of discussion.
  - naruvimama 5y ago
    It shows the duplicity and double standards When the west starts point fingers at India for - free speech, human rights, co2 emissions or for that matter oil imports from Russia. There is still a colonial mindset at the institutional level where they believe they can just pass arbitrary unfounded judgments and the world has no choice but to accept it. But clearly the data exposes their duplicity.
yutijke 5y ago
A lot of people will surely have strong opinions on topics like this. And if true, then those strong opinions and voices are needed. But I don't think Hacker News is the right place for this since there is not even a single bit of tech relevance in this story.
- lolinder 5y ago
  Another commenter already said this below, and someone else already replied with this guideline: > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Freedom of speech is an extremely interesting topic to a very large part of the community here, and as such this article absolutely has a place.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > there is not even a single bit of tech relevance in this story This story first came to my attention through a fellow LP in a VC fund currently deploying in India. If this is part of a broader pattern, it's relevant to anyone with or considering exposure to India, personally, financially or professionally.
  - actuator 5y ago
    With what we have seen in China, I hardly think it matters whatever happens in India with relation to freedoms as long as the economy booms. Investors will pour money for returns. But I had a question about this. Do VCs looking for data and analysis of a country largely rely on foreign press or read an assortment of local media as well?
    - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
      > what we have seen in China, I hardly think it matters whatever happens in India with relation to freedoms as long as the economy booms Arresting lawmakers is de-stabilising. Very different from what's going on in China.
wtmt 5y ago
Paraphrasing a bit: [1] > He was charged with Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A) (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation). In addition to that, the police included one more charge under Section 66 of the IT Act. The most appropriate subsection in this would be Section 66A, which was struck down seven years ago by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional! India has really vaguely worded laws that can be interpreted against any action or speech by someone. Offending sentiments, disturbing peace, inciting violence, promoting enmity or hatred, "sedition" (which is a favorite nowadays: criticize the country or a politician or praise another country's cricket team and you may be charged with sedition). There are even worse draconian laws (UAPA, Goonda Act) that allow the police to detain and imprison a person without producing them in court for a year or longer. Just claim that the person is a criminal or terrorist and they can be confined and isolated. All these laws and charges are applied selectively. Those in power have abused and do abuse these to suppress dissent. When the people in the ruling party commit far worse offenses, they're not held to account (please search for public hate speeches where some people have talked about killing other people). When faced with protests about an inconsistent and controversial law, the Prime Minister himself said in a speech that "Those creating violence can be identified by their clothes itself" (a reference to Muslims). [2] Obviously, no action was taken against him. What's even sadder is that the Indian Supreme Court seems to have long abdicated its responsibilities to citizens, and appears to mostly favor the governments if it does hear any important cases (it seems to wake up once in a while from its hypnotized state). It's painful to say that if there were ever a sellout that most people haven't questioned, it should be on this court. Obviously, many other countries may be in similar or worse situations. But the bar cannot, and should not, be so low in India for people to feel proud in comparison. As the largest democracy in the current times, India should be setting a much higher bar for freedoms and be a pioneer that other countries seek to emulate. That likely won't come soon, and needs generational changes. Edit: If everyone points fingers at other countries whenever such incidents are reported in any country, we'd all soon be living in places that nobody would choose to live in. [1]: https://www.medianama.com/2022/04/223-jignesh-mevani-arrested-modi-tweet/ https://www.medianama.com/2022/04/223-jignesh-mevani-arreste... [2]: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/those-creating-violence-can-be-identified-by-their-clothes-itself-pm-modi-on-rampaging-anti-cab-mobs/videoshow/72679243.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio...
jrm4 5y ago
- lolinder 5y ago
  You're the first person to bring the US culture war into this conversation. Every other time the US has come up, it's either to note the exceptionally strong legal protections we have or to bring up the relatively limited legal restrictions we do have (EDIT: all in the context of this story about India).
  - jrm4 5y ago
    Good, this means that the people here are smart. Hence why I said get everyone else :) (i.e. I legit wasn't thinking about people posting here)
    - lolinder 5y ago
      It's less to do with people here being smart, it's that the US culture war is off topic. :)
      - jrm4 5y ago
        Last I checked, Twitter and Facebook, and a few others were 1) wildly overpowered in terms of speech 2) frequently accused of censorship 3) pretty damn globally influential I would love for the US not to be so influential in this regard, but that ain't the world we're living in.
    - colpabar 5y ago
      It also means that you are the one taking an issue outside the US and injecting US politics into it. Don’t do that!
      - jrm4 5y ago
        No.
- 5y ago
Throwaway0988 5y ago
As an Indian, the situation is a bit more complicated than what the article frames it as. Religion (and caste) have always been a sensitive issue, to the extent that there are multiple laws preventing people from "inciting" others (and yes, these laws are often abused by whichever government happens to be holding power, including the ones before the current government) - this is especially true for public figures like this guy here. Given that, calling this "unconstitutional" would be a bit of a stretch (abuse of power? maybe). Further, the term "arrest" would be factually incorrect. India has a concept of detention — police can legally detain any individual on suspicion (even without a warrant/crime) upto a period of 24 hours — post which the detainee is presented to a magistrate where the detention can be legally challenged. > a court in Kokrajhar denied him bail, ordering him to be held in custody for three days Instead of an actual arrest this seems to be an extended detention (approved a court). > arrest coincided with the arrival of the British prime minister > He was taken across the country to Assam in India’s north-east Considering these statements, instead of being arrested for his tweet, the context makes it seem more like the police felt he could be a threat given the arrival of Johnson, and they decided to preemptively detain him in a far corner of the country. Regardless of whether I'm correct or not, it won't be the first time this has happened. ((Please ignore the typos/formatting, I typed this on a phone)) Edit: Just saw the article also mentions > In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting While this is true, it also needs to be mentioned that Delhi is not under BJP government (the ruling party).
- vijaybritto 5y ago
  > While this is true, it also needs to be mentioned that Delhi is not under BJP government (the ruling party). This is false. Delhi's law and order is directly under Amit Shah, the country's home minister(BJP).
  - Throwaway0988 5y ago
    Ah, just checked — I stand corrected. You are right, NCT is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Home Affairs[0] (and thus under BJP). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Police
joemazerino 5y ago
Modi is an oppressive ruler who was originally jailed for beating a cow farmer in broad daylight. I'm glad The Guardian is finally paying attention to oppression outside of the Western sphere.
- deleted 5y ago
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- vijaybritto 5y ago
  The genocide of Indian Muslims has begun. The economic cornering process has begun already and there are large scale riots incited by armed extremists who go for processions in Muslim communities and play loud music which have abusive lyrics towards Muslims. They are dancing with weapons in their hands. This is extremely common now and is a daily occurrence. There will be lots of deaths and even larger scale violence on Muslims in the coming years. It has to be stopped. The ones who are supporting this violence has to be held accountable. 1.https://thewire.in/communalism/gujarat-himmatnagar-ram-navami-violence-muslims https://thewire.in/communalism/gujarat-himmatnagar-ram-navam...
  - sanmon3186 5y ago
    While I understand the emotion but anyone who believes that 200 million Muslims in a country are a target for genocide, is being unfair. Situation isn’t as straightforward.
    - vijaybritto 5y ago
      Its not straightforward and only a few million in the northern states may die at max so its not a genocide. :thumbs_up:
selfhoster69 5y ago
Every day, I'm ashamed of the Modi government that has been elected twice. Very recently, his party also won a key constituency, headed by a monk that has failed to condemn the astonishingly high number of females rapes. If Modi were to stand for election today, he would probably win again. The majority of the people in India seem to be very fond of nationalism and its seemingly quiet transition to fascism. It's very disturbing to say the least.
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known 5y ago
known 5y ago

219 points by nigerian1981 5y ago

"In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting." Illegal housing was demolished without taking any religion into consideration.

Zafira 5y ago
Discriminatory uses of impartial law is totally a thing, though. Now, then and (likely) forever.
mayankkaizen 5y ago
I am bring lazy but I can cite at least 200 cases (from recent past) where Modi regime (mis)used government agencies to harass its critics/opponents/muslims and timing of each misuse was impeccable. As a case study, just see the use of ED in last 12 months alone. There is a remarkable pattern. Some person/org become critical of Modi and in next few days, he is arrested/detained/raided. Of course Modi regime maintained that agencies were working independently and without any political motives. And naive people like you agree.

koshergweilo 5y ago

I admit I'm not super familiar with India's freedom of speech, is this a backslide or has it always been like this?

walrus01 5y ago
the instances of the Indian government censoring the internet are numerous and well documented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India
noarchy 5y ago
If we start to get a lot of comments here, pay attention. You'll likely see confirmation of recent trends in India. I suspect we're already seeing that, even with the few comments that have been posted so far.
- danamit 5y ago
  I thought it will be different from Twitter and YouTube comments, sad to see Indian IT professionals being part of that too.
  - formerkrogemp 5y ago
    It's only less pronounced for American IT professionals defending the US reputation as y'all have more of a contrarían streak. I think if anything Americans online are more prone to criticize their own country than other places specifically because we have decent freedom of speech.
    - stjohnswarts 5y ago
      ... for now. The right wing SCOTUS is likely to begin upholding racist, sexist, and political decisions as okay in republicans states, they (the 5 far right members) have made no qualms about putting out feelers for such cases in the past, we are just beginning to see how bad it's going to get with challenges to Roe v. Wade (soon to be completely upended), voters rights, and various other cases in the pipeline
  - shasts 5y ago
    Majority of Indians IT professionals or majority who has attended college in India are upper caste folks, the main supporters of current ruling party. So the trend is not surprising. Many of them migrated to West and continue to do the same caste things even in silicon valley. Google the Cisco caste discrimination incident.
    - muzaffarpur 5y ago
      I doubt it. On an average around 70% of seats are reserved (affirmative action) for lower caste students. The difference of admission cutoffs is like day and night. I wouldn't be surprise that people from upper caste don't feel particularly well, for being lawfully, indefinite discrimination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India
leephillips 5y ago
India never had freedom of speech. Opposition newspapers are often harassed and shut down. They have a law criminalizing offending religious feelings. This is not an exaggerated paraphrase, that’s what the law says. A scientist was convicted under this law a few years ago for demonstrating that a “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary was not actually weeping blood. The truth was offensive, so the law applied. EDIT: I remembered inaccurately. It was a statue of the crucified Jesus, not Mary.
- deleted 5y ago
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- imdhmd 5y ago
  There is a difference between a law in paper and its enactment. There are various laws in the constitution of india that can be conveniently represented to prosecute someone on the basis of their speech. There is significant evidence of such happenings only increasing lately
- stickfigure 5y ago
  Your point still stands, but there was never a formal prosecution or conviction (he fled to Finland before it got that far): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_crucifix_in_Mumbai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_crucifix_in_Mumbai
  - leephillips 5y ago
    Thanks for the clarification (I was going by memory). So he was arrested, and presumably would have been prosecuted had he not escaped.
- bruceb 5y ago
  He was gone after not because of proving it false, but because he accused the church of purposefully lying I believe. One could call it not much different but it isn't the exact same as being prosecuted for debunking a "miracle" From wikipedia: he skeptic-rationalist author Sanal Edamaruku proved that the water stemmed from a faulty sewage system, which seeped due to capillary action. However, Edamaruku also accused Latin Christian priests of regularly scamming devotees and defrauding miracles to make money, and build bigger and newer churchs or convents,[1] and mocked the Pope as "anti-science".[2] A church representative admitted Edamaruku had the "right to doubt", and Christian activists said that the backlash was not for debunking the alleged "miracle" but for the defamatory statements made live on television.[3]
danamit 5y ago
I remember stories of people beaten up for not standing for the anthem in the cinema, one of them was disabled wheelchair user. So I guess it is like that for a while especially after the Hindutvas got into power.
- zapdrive 5y ago
  Oh yeah, freedom of speech flourished under Congress rule /s Who was the only prime minister to invoke emergency?
  - webartisan 5y ago
    [flagged]
  - MrBlueIncognito 5y ago
    The Nazis killed millions through their actions. Will that justify you killing even one?
    - mayankkaizen 5y ago
      RSS is the ideological parent of currently ruling political party (BJP). The second head and most powerful figure in RSS history was Golwalkar and he openly praised Hitler for 'fighting for his culture'. https://thewire.in/politics/culture-ministry-ms-golwalkar-hitler-caste-muslim-rss https://thewire.in/politics/culture-ministry-ms-golwalkar-hi...
  - mayankkaizen 5y ago
    Indira wasn't a saint but Modi is evil personified. Emergency was invoked and was soon revoked. If you are careful, you can see India is now again under Emergency since 2015. And things are getting worse. The difference between 1975 and 2015 is that earlier it was declared openly but in present case it wasn't declared, rather it was systemically implemented by developing a hate mongering Hindutva brigade. Press freedom was gone for may be one year during 1975. But now? It is gone for good 5 years. In 1975, no particular community was targeted. Now? Every muslim is at risk. Heck, even Hindus who are anti-Modi are at risks. During 1975, journalists were able to protest against Indira Gandhi. And now? You'd be put in jail for whatever reason. No journlist can dare to oppose Modi. India is in worse condition now than it was in 1975.
srvmshr 5y ago
Freedom & freedom of speech aren't equivalent ideas, and most of us Indians do not correctly identify the subtle difference. Hence speech and opinions come under vicious attack instead of productive participation. India sees journalism taking camps (since the era of Mrs. Indira Gandhi' premiership). There are national newspapers & media channels who very overtly align with the political parties. Speaking your mind out comes with its own consequences.
- koshergweilo 5y ago
  Sure even the freest of speech is not free of consequences, but this seems to be a case of the state punishing a specific person for his speech. Partisan media is one thing but this seems to be something entirely different
actuator 5y ago
No, it hasn't been a backslide, it has been always like this. While media in the west will pick certain stories, you can find such events all across the political spectrum. A much lauded and young people supported newcomer party used the police against the members of the party in power at the national level as soon as they came to power in a state and got hold of the police there. It is sad but when courts won't act in time, this abuse of law will keep happening.
pessimizer 5y ago
Absolute freedom of speech is a US Bill of Rights thing, and we backslide when it comes to political or sexual speech, e.g. with political Islam in the 21st century; Communism/Socialism/Anarchism in the early 20th century; and constantly when it comes to anything sexual, especially information about birth control, anything gay, anything involving miscegenation, or anything else that embarrasses a judge or gives him an erection. The difference between the US and other places is that these things are usually reverted after a few decades by appeal to a clearly written first amendment. The most dangerous assault on US freedom of speech has been copyright, which has become an pretense to monitor all communications since sending information about birth control or sending porn through the mail ceased to be a public priority. Vaguely defined "hate speech" is creeping up on becoming a reason for government censorship through the backdoor of "hate crime." "Hate crimes" are proved by proving a regular old crime was committed, then poring through the history of the person who committed the crime looking for "hate speech." "Hate speech" could certainly eventually expand to be indistinguishable from lèse majesté. A certain type of mind can see criticism of the President as a "hate crime."
mayankkaizen 5y ago
Let me tell you my anecdotal experience. Modi came in power in 2014 and till than I was BJP (Modi's party) supporter. Then I began to see how dangerous Modi is to society as a whole. In short, he is modern, complex sophisticated version of Nazi ideology. He carefully raised an army of hindu rightwing members who are bigots, intolerant and full of hate. He doesn't belive in democracy, freedom of speech, human rights, tolerance, diversity, press freedom and stuffs like that. Anyway... Earlier I (and every other Modi opponent I know) would openly criticize him on various SM platofrms or whatsapp groups. Now we just stay silent. We now dont even talk anything against him even in familiar circles. Why? Because we are afraid. You may get beaten. You may be arrested. You may be shunned. I live in an apartment in Delhi and there is a whatsapp group for that apartment where we share and discuss apartment related issues. Some Modi supporters often post highly inflammble propagandist anti muslims post on regular basis. One guy politely objected to it. He was immediatly declared anti-hindu and anti India. He was removed from the group. He was 'politely' told that he should be careful in future. The friendly neighbors have turned foes. Even I was cornered and declared anti-national many times (luckily by people who were otherwise friendly to me.) This is happening all around in India. If you aren't Modi supporter, just keep your mouth shut.
- hef19898 5y ago
  That's right from the Nazi playbook, and extremely scary...
  - throwaway38471 5y ago
    And PM of India also does a regular monologue which is broadcasted across all govt news channels, radio stations, translated to multiple languages, sent through mobile app of govt/pm. They even spam you on your emails if you ever used your email to deal with govt services. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Ki_Baat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Ki_Baat
    - mayankkaizen 5y ago
      And yet he is so coward that he always avoid interviews, except for may be 2-3 interviews (read PR stunts) which were conducted by sycophants like Rajat Sharma who has dedicated his life to Modi. Other than that, he never faced any open interview in his 8 years tenure as a PM of biggest democracy.
throwaway0x7E6 5y ago
"freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences"
naruvimama 5y ago
The current Modi government is held to a much higher standard than the previous congress dynasty. Freedom of speech is much worse in non BJP states like Tamil Nadu. There is a huge cabal of bureaucracy, media, academia, judiciary and foreign institutions that profited handsomely under the corruption ecosystem built by the congress. They are infuriated by the people's choice of a more honest and a non-dynast like Modi.
- mayankkaizen 5y ago
  Until 2014, BJP was the only democratic party in India which wasn't run by a authoritarian person. Current BJP is now the most authoritarian party where Modi-Shah call the shots. Can you name even a single person who is critical of Modi and still is in BJP? Who opposed ANY decision of Modi government? If you think Gandhi dynasty was corrupt then why Modi wasn't able to put them in jail? Why didn't he press any charges against them? Again, if you believe Gandhis were corrupt then you should also believe Modi got innocents murdered. He committed genocide and there is no bigger crime than genocide. I opposed Congress when it was in power without any fear. Initially I opposed Modi too but not anymore. Why? Because I'm scared for my life. That is the difference between Congress and BJP.
  - muzaffarpur 5y ago
    Question is, if Modi is culprit, why he is not in jail. Congress was in power for atleast 5 years or so, post Godhara. That's how the country is. There is no rule of law and for sure there was never rule of law for politicians). If you have lived in India, you would know there is no difference in Modi or Congress or anyone else. Politicians are gangsters. Modi has done what congress did early. Congress consolidated Muslim votes at the expense of Hindu sentiments, and Modi has done exactly opposite. He has consolidated Hindu votes at the expanse of Muslim sentiments. They are all same. I wonder how was it possible (I mean where the courage stems from) that supposedly minority group can burn alive hundreds of pilgrims without thinking of consequences. How did kashmiri muslims assumed that there'll be no repercussions of kicking out Hindus from Jammu (oh they didn't leave due to minor inconvenience). The resentment wasn't build in a day(I believe Congress was ruling India in 1990). What did congress government do? Nothing. So to conclude, congress and BJP are equivalent.
FerociousTimes 5y ago
India ranks 142nd on the World Press Freedom Index for 2021 [1] out of 180 countries tracked by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a very embarrassing ranking for the world's most populous or largest democracy. [1]: https://rsf.org/en/ranking https://rsf.org/en/ranking
stjohnswarts 5y ago
I was curious about this myself and wondering if Modi is on his way to being the next Putin/Xi and declaring himself dictator for life.

amriksohata 5y ago

Bit of an odd article, man makes defamatory and false tweet, gets arrested for defamation, cries free speech? Making such a remark is equivalent of calling someone here a nazi etc. Hardly newsworthy

zozbot234 5y ago
Adding to your point, people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too. Yet I have not seen much concern for free speech rights in the Grauniad. Why is India being singled out here? It looks like old colonial attitudes resurfacing again, where exotic colonial dependents are always stereotyped as "backward".
- leephillips 5y ago
  Same weird misspelling of the newspaper’s name in two different comments? How does that happen?
  - nabusman 5y ago
    It's a reference to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%20typographical%20errors%20during%20the,the%20editors%20for%20self%2Dmockery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%....
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too A member of Parliament? For something as vague as “attempting to disturb ‘public tranquillity and peace’”? > old colonial attitudes When non-MP Brits were arrested for similar nonsense, was the public’s response whataboutism and appeals to colonial victimhood?
amriksohata 5y ago
- 5y ago

1024core 5y ago

Boris Johnson arrived in India. Rabble-rousers know that the world's media attention will follow; and they use this opportunity to garner some of the spotlight. It's just a shameless ploy to get their names out. Such is democracy, I guess. And the Guardian doesn't help by adding flame bait such as this: "In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting." Illegal construction, encroachment on public land will sometimes get this response. Of course, due to vote bank politics, this may not always happen; but it does.

stickfigure 5y ago
About the content of the tweets, the article says: But Mevani tweeted this week that Modi “worships and considers Godse as God”, accusing the prime minister of fomenting religious division. He also demanded that Modi apologise for communal violence in Gujarat, where Mevani is a member of the state legislature. Assuming this representation of the tweets is accurate, are you saying that posting them should be an arrestable offense?
- deleted 5y ago
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deleted 5y ago
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CtznIndn 5y ago
This is a very ingenuous take, trying to shield the wrong doings by Current Gov. First, Illegal encroachments were not bulldozed. People had valid documents proving the legitimacy of their houses. Also, the Supreme Court ordered for the demolitions to stop, but the houses and shops of people were still razed to ground. The Rabble rousers were people who were undertaking religious processions with swords and guns raised in front of mosques, mocking and troubling Muslims. They even hoisted saffron flags over the mosques. Rabble rousers are those who are continuously giving calls for genocide of Muslims in Dharm sansads, publicly. And PM of India has stayed mum all through out. What Guardian said is absolutely right. It's not flame-bait. Such is Democracy, I guess.
5y ago

juanani 5y ago

morekozhambu 5y ago

mohanmcgeek 5y ago

veonik 5y ago
There's a ton of posts on here completely unrelated to programming, why not this one too?
- mohanmcgeek 5y ago
  yes. Let's turn this place into r/technology
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.
neophyt3 5y ago
hknapp 5y ago
> On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ra7 5y ago
  Also in the guidelines. > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. This story is surely closer to politics than to intellectual curiosity?

naruvimama 5y ago

groos 5y ago
Didn't expect to see whataboutism and Islamophobia on this site but I guess I should have low expectations from those supporting Modi and his fascist regime.
- naruvimama 5y ago
  - pasabagi 5y ago
    > as they are The current PM called muslim women 'letter boxes'. You've clearly never been to the UK. I'm sure if you had a basic familiarity, you'd rest comfortably in the knowledge that the state there is just as disgustingly bigoted as you are.
CtznIndn 5y ago
UK is half way to Sharia?! It's not true, but even it is, why has that got to do with the criticism? There are continuous calls in India for genocide of Muslims, publicly. Past two weeks, religious processions have been undertaken by Hindu extremist orgs in front of mosques with swords and Guns, mocking Muslims. And PM of the Nation has been silent, with no calls whatsoever for peace. It's not 'funny' to criticize PM of Nation to do his duty to people of the nation. And it's not funny that Guardian is reporting it. People living in India know how terrifying the situation has become due to these repeated calls for Violence against Muslims
- naruvimama 5y ago
  If you have not noticed there was rioting in Sweden, attacks on Easter parade in Spain, and multiple counts of riots and attacks on Hindu processions in India. Perhaps it is a correlation between hunger and anger, or perhaps the more regular congregation is convenient opportunity for riots.

naruvimama 5y ago

CtznIndn 5y ago
Guardian is not 'The west'. It's a News organization. It is neither a representative or an official mouthpiece for 'The west'. Guardian is not finger pointing as well, It's doing it's job, which is reporting the events. And the criticism is absolutely valid. This deflection and tangential remarks are not suitable for Hacker News.
- givemeethekeys 5y ago
  Since when did Newspapers become independent?
- naruvimama 5y ago
  It is one of several patterns I have just noticed in the past couple of weeks US made a human rights comment. Germany media made a big deal about the oil purchase, trying to deflect attention from their own increased purchase. And as a former colonialist I couldn't expect the UK not come up with it's own act. Collective guilt works both ways especially among democratic countries of which India is thr largest and US the oldest.
einszwei 5y ago
How is that relevant to the topic at hand? Please don't resort to whataboutery and lower the standard of discussion.
- naruvimama 5y ago
  It shows the duplicity and double standards When the west starts point fingers at India for - free speech, human rights, co2 emissions or for that matter oil imports from Russia. There is still a colonial mindset at the institutional level where they believe they can just pass arbitrary unfounded judgments and the world has no choice but to accept it. But clearly the data exposes their duplicity.

yutijke 5y ago

A lot of people will surely have strong opinions on topics like this. And if true, then those strong opinions and voices are needed. But I don't think Hacker News is the right place for this since there is not even a single bit of tech relevance in this story.

lolinder 5y ago
Another commenter already said this below, and someone else already replied with this guideline: > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Freedom of speech is an extremely interesting topic to a very large part of the community here, and as such this article absolutely has a place.
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> there is not even a single bit of tech relevance in this story This story first came to my attention through a fellow LP in a VC fund currently deploying in India. If this is part of a broader pattern, it's relevant to anyone with or considering exposure to India, personally, financially or professionally.
- actuator 5y ago
  With what we have seen in China, I hardly think it matters whatever happens in India with relation to freedoms as long as the economy booms. Investors will pour money for returns. But I had a question about this. Do VCs looking for data and analysis of a country largely rely on foreign press or read an assortment of local media as well?
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > what we have seen in China, I hardly think it matters whatever happens in India with relation to freedoms as long as the economy booms Arresting lawmakers is de-stabilising. Very different from what's going on in China.

wtmt 5y ago

Paraphrasing a bit: [1] > He was charged with Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A) (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation). In addition to that, the police included one more charge under Section 66 of the IT Act. The most appropriate subsection in this would be Section 66A, which was struck down seven years ago by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional! India has really vaguely worded laws that can be interpreted against any action or speech by someone. Offending sentiments, disturbing peace, inciting violence, promoting enmity or hatred, "sedition" (which is a favorite nowadays: criticize the country or a politician or praise another country's cricket team and you may be charged with sedition). There are even worse draconian laws (UAPA, Goonda Act) that allow the police to detain and imprison a person without producing them in court for a year or longer. Just claim that the person is a criminal or terrorist and they can be confined and isolated. All these laws and charges are applied selectively. Those in power have abused and do abuse these to suppress dissent. When the people in the ruling party commit far worse offenses, they're not held to account (please search for public hate speeches where some people have talked about killing other people). When faced with protests about an inconsistent and controversial law, the Prime Minister himself said in a speech that "Those creating violence can be identified by their clothes itself" (a reference to Muslims). [2] Obviously, no action was taken against him. What's even sadder is that the Indian Supreme Court seems to have long abdicated its responsibilities to citizens, and appears to mostly favor the governments if it does hear any important cases (it seems to wake up once in a while from its hypnotized state). It's painful to say that if there were ever a sellout that most people haven't questioned, it should be on this court. Obviously, many other countries may be in similar or worse situations. But the bar cannot, and should not, be so low in India for people to feel proud in comparison. As the largest democracy in the current times, India should be setting a much higher bar for freedoms and be a pioneer that other countries seek to emulate. That likely won't come soon, and needs generational changes. Edit: If everyone points fingers at other countries whenever such incidents are reported in any country, we'd all soon be living in places that nobody would choose to live in. [1]: https://www.medianama.com/2022/04/223-jignesh-mevani-arrested-modi-tweet/ https://www.medianama.com/2022/04/223-jignesh-mevani-arreste... [2]: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/those-creating-violence-can-be-identified-by-their-clothes-itself-pm-modi-on-rampaging-anti-cab-mobs/videoshow/72679243.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio...

jrm4 5y ago

lolinder 5y ago
You're the first person to bring the US culture war into this conversation. Every other time the US has come up, it's either to note the exceptionally strong legal protections we have or to bring up the relatively limited legal restrictions we do have (EDIT: all in the context of this story about India).
- jrm4 5y ago
  Good, this means that the people here are smart. Hence why I said get everyone else :) (i.e. I legit wasn't thinking about people posting here)
  - lolinder 5y ago
    It's less to do with people here being smart, it's that the US culture war is off topic. :)
    - jrm4 5y ago
      Last I checked, Twitter and Facebook, and a few others were 1) wildly overpowered in terms of speech 2) frequently accused of censorship 3) pretty damn globally influential I would love for the US not to be so influential in this regard, but that ain't the world we're living in.
  - colpabar 5y ago
    It also means that you are the one taking an issue outside the US and injecting US politics into it. Don’t do that!
    - jrm4 5y ago
      No.
5y ago

Throwaway0988 5y ago

As an Indian, the situation is a bit more complicated than what the article frames it as. Religion (and caste) have always been a sensitive issue, to the extent that there are multiple laws preventing people from "inciting" others (and yes, these laws are often abused by whichever government happens to be holding power, including the ones before the current government) - this is especially true for public figures like this guy here. Given that, calling this "unconstitutional" would be a bit of a stretch (abuse of power? maybe). Further, the term "arrest" would be factually incorrect. India has a concept of detention — police can legally detain any individual on suspicion (even without a warrant/crime) upto a period of 24 hours — post which the detainee is presented to a magistrate where the detention can be legally challenged. > a court in Kokrajhar denied him bail, ordering him to be held in custody for three days Instead of an actual arrest this seems to be an extended detention (approved a court). > arrest coincided with the arrival of the British prime minister > He was taken across the country to Assam in India’s north-east Considering these statements, instead of being arrested for his tweet, the context makes it seem more like the police felt he could be a threat given the arrival of Johnson, and they decided to preemptively detain him in a far corner of the country. Regardless of whether I'm correct or not, it won't be the first time this has happened. ((Please ignore the typos/formatting, I typed this on a phone)) Edit: Just saw the article also mentions > In the capital, Delhi, bulldozers have demolished the homes of Muslims accused of rioting While this is true, it also needs to be mentioned that Delhi is not under BJP government (the ruling party).

vijaybritto 5y ago
> While this is true, it also needs to be mentioned that Delhi is not under BJP government (the ruling party). This is false. Delhi's law and order is directly under Amit Shah, the country's home minister(BJP).
- Throwaway0988 5y ago
  Ah, just checked — I stand corrected. You are right, NCT is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Home Affairs[0] (and thus under BJP). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Police

joemazerino 5y ago

Modi is an oppressive ruler who was originally jailed for beating a cow farmer in broad daylight. I'm glad The Guardian is finally paying attention to oppression outside of the Western sphere.

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vijaybritto 5y ago
The genocide of Indian Muslims has begun. The economic cornering process has begun already and there are large scale riots incited by armed extremists who go for processions in Muslim communities and play loud music which have abusive lyrics towards Muslims. They are dancing with weapons in their hands. This is extremely common now and is a daily occurrence. There will be lots of deaths and even larger scale violence on Muslims in the coming years. It has to be stopped. The ones who are supporting this violence has to be held accountable. 1.https://thewire.in/communalism/gujarat-himmatnagar-ram-navami-violence-muslims https://thewire.in/communalism/gujarat-himmatnagar-ram-navam...
- sanmon3186 5y ago
  While I understand the emotion but anyone who believes that 200 million Muslims in a country are a target for genocide, is being unfair. Situation isn’t as straightforward.
  - vijaybritto 5y ago
    Its not straightforward and only a few million in the northern states may die at max so its not a genocide. :thumbs_up:

selfhoster69 5y ago

Every day, I'm ashamed of the Modi government that has been elected twice. Very recently, his party also won a key constituency, headed by a monk that has failed to condemn the astonishingly high number of females rapes. If Modi were to stand for election today, he would probably win again. The majority of the people in India seem to be very fond of nationalism and its seemingly quiet transition to fascism. It's very disturbing to say the least.

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known 5y ago