With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections nearing, the entire secular-liberal ecosystem has started working overtime to demonise the Modi government. In their eagerness to do so, they regularly end up stating things that are devoid of the slightest of truth. In fact, this elite gang of leftist intelligentsia skillfully concocts lies and twists facts to peddle the fake narrative of how India has been suffering under Modi’s ‘fascist’ regime.
Similar is the case with Jyoti Malhotra, a senior journalist with Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint. The ‘journalist’ recently spoke to the French media outlet France 24. During her chat, she lamented how in non-BJP-ruled states a person can walk and talk freely vis à vis a BJP-governed state in India. Jyoti Malhotra was basically repeating the same myth that this cabal has been peddling since PM Modi took office in 2014, namely that freedom of expression and speech is under threat in Modi’s India.
In a snippet of the interview doing the rounds on social media, the columnist with the ultra-leftist portal ThePrint is heard saying, “I agree that the freedom of speech and dissent is being clamped down because the fear that you have in the streets of Delhi and elsewhere in the country, by the way in BJP ruled states. If you’re in a non-BJP-ruled state you can really speak much more freely, walk about the streets much more freely.
Lies by liberals are getting absolutely out of control
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) September 8, 2023
54 people died in panchayat poll violence in Bengal
Crude bombs exploding in every corner of Bengal
But Jyoti Malhotra tells France24 that in non-BJP ruled states you can walk and talk freely
Incredible level of lying pic.twitter.com/hbxAREXlOc
Jyoti Malhotra basically implied that the BJP is hell-bent on weakening the fourth pillar of democracy. As proven by several incidences recorded from various states, incidentally which are not under BJP, over the previous few years, the allegation made by ThePrint columnist was nothing more than a vile attempt to disparage the Modi government.
Jyoti Malhotra, however, is a speck in the huge ocean of this secular-leftist cabal, which has frequently peddled the lie about the lack of press freedom in Modi’s regime. Despite their wailing and crying, the truth is that several non-BJP-ruled states are at the top of the list when it comes to restricting free speech and dissenting voices.
Here is a list of non-BJP states where the administration has rarely allowed for dissent and has acted with an iron grip against the press whenever they have raised fingers against its transgressions. Please keep in mind that this is only an indicative list; the actual number of instances in which ordinary citizens and members of the media in these states have been harassed and chastised for expressing their opposition to the state establishment is undoubtedly higher.
West Bengal: Kolkata-based journalist arrested for shedding light on anti-Hindu violence
In October 2022, a Kolkata-based Manab Guha was arrested and framed in non-bailable sections for sharing the ground reality of the anti-Hindu Mominpur Violence. The photojournalist’s alleged “crime” was that he dared to post footage and images of anti-Hindu violence on social media.
The West Bengal police justified the arbitrary action by claiming that such recordings could have generated additional hostility in society.
In another case of ‘witch hunt’ against media voices, the Kolkata Police, on 9 January, registered an FIR against 10 journalists and BJP state president Dr Sukanta Majumdar for allegedly ‘misreporting’ the stone pelting incidents on the Vande Bharat Express.
They were booked under specific sections of the Information Technology Act for giving the state a ‘bad name’. The arbitrary action was a follow-up of Mamata Banerjee’s earlier threat to media outlets that legal action would be taken against journalists for spreading ‘fake news’ about the stone pelting incident on Vande Bharat Express trains in West Bengal.
In 2019, Mamata Banerjee, who is known to be unsparing towards dissenting opinions, once again got a 28-year-old youth arrested for allegedly posting a derogatory remark against her on social media. Chandan Bhattacharya was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Trinamool Youth Congress district president Shantanu Banerjee.
Similarly, Priyanka Sharma, BJP youth leader had been arrested for posting a meme mocking Banerjee on her Facebook Timeline on May 9. The MET Gala 2019-themed meme superimposed Mamata’s face on Priyanka Chopra’s body. She was arrested and produced in Howrah Court.
OpIndia targeted by West Bengal government
Earlier, in 2021, the West Bengal government had singled out OpIndia and filed as many as four cases for reports – highlighting the Covid handling in Bengal; Azan being played in Durga Pandal – the video of it had gone viral back then and was widely reported by many media houses. However, in a major relief to media freedom and free speech, in December 2021, the Supreme Court quashed all these FIRs.
The apex court raised concerns about how journalists are having to bear the repercussions of publicly available information.
The bench had observed, “State force should never be used to either browbeat a political opinion or the journalists suffer the consequences of what is already in the public domain.”
Chhattisgarh: How dissenting voices are stifled in a state where Congress is at the helm of affairs
In March 2022, the Chhattisgarh Police arrested Raipur-based journalist Nilesh Sharma who is an Editor of the web portal indiawriters.co.in and print magazine ‘India Writers’. He was accused of spreading ‘fake news’ against the ruling Congress leaders in the state of Chattisgarh. According to reports, Sharma runs a popular series based on political satire, ‘Ghurva Ke Mati’.
The series uses fictional characters resonating with the Congress leaders and Chattisgarh MLAs.
Karnataka: How state machinery has been misused to silence dissenting voices under Congress regime
On 24 July, a coordinated campaign was launched to intimidate popular Hindu Human Rights activist and Former Oxford Student Union President Rashmi Samant. Several social media handles which were spearheaded by Alt News Co-founder Muhammad Zubair, engaged her in a Twitter spate and hurled accusations, and name-calling. Zubair also issued a veiled threat of legal action under the pretext of spreading false information.
After Alt News’ Zubair ‘flagged’ her tweet for allegedly spreading false information, Karnataka’s Udupi police also launched a campaign to locate Samant.
Tamil Nadu
Earlier this year, on 18 March, the Police arrested YouTuber Manish Kashyap aka Tripurari Kumar Tiwari from Bihar in connection with the alleged attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. A special team of the Tamil Nadu police brought him to the southern state on transit remand after the Madurai Crime Branch police registered a case against him.
Later, the Tamil Nadu police slapped stringent NSA on him. He has been in jail since then despite moving bail petitions multiple times.
Similarly, many more journalists were also booked for sharing the concerns of the migrant workers from Bihar, which, however, were reportedly found to have relied on some fake videos. In connection with this ‘fake news’ of Bihar migrant workers assaulted in Tamil Nadu, the state police had also filed FIRs against OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan and Editor-in-Chief Nupur Sharma, for publishing articles based on claims made in a Bhaskar report – which also explicitly and prominently added the police version.
Additionally, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, the Twitter handle of the BJP’s Bihar unit – BJP4Bihar, BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao and Dainik Bhaskar newspaper’s editor, Mohammed Tanveer, were also booked for sharing the news of the ordeal Bihar migrant workers.
Actor Ketaki Chitale arrested for sharing Facebook post criticising Sharad Pawar
Another example of stifling dissent and free speech was the case of Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale. She was booked and arrested for sharing a Facebook post that was alleged to be directed at Sharad Pawar even though there was no explicit reference to the NCP patriarch. She was merely arrested for sharing a critical post written by Advocate Nitin Bhave. Yet, she was booked under sections 500, 501, 505 (2), and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code.
Above are only a few of the many incidents that were reported from non-BJP states like Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka where administrations have been inclined to use state machinery with an iron fist and cage dissenting voices so that it has a “chilling effect” on journalists and common people and discourages them from raising voices on stories that are either brushed under the carpet or grotesquely misrepresented. Despite the information being readily available on public platforms the likes of ‘journalist’ Jyoti Malhotra have the audacity to say that free speech and dissent are being curbed in states where BJP is at the helm of affairs.
Who is Jyoti Malhotra
Jyoti Malhotra, as per her bio on ThePrint website, is the National and Strategic Affairs Editor. She has been a journalist for more than three decades covering foreign affairs, politics and national affairs at some of the top publications in the country.
The ‘senior’ journalist who appeared all informed and scholarly in the interview with the French media outlet is the same ‘senior’ journalist who had recently advised the Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to watch Pathaan, the Bollywood movie with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead, to navigate the complexities of geopolitics and managing relationships with neighbours known for harbouring chronic ill-will towards India and for unabashedly sponsoring terror attacks in the country.
Ms Malhotra had gone on to explain that ‘Pathaan’ had been an AfPak movie, an abbreviation for Afghanistan and Pakistan. She went into raptures about the movie, emphasising how Afghans helped SRK, the good guy, in his mission to defeat the bad ones. She also gushed over the role of Deepika Padukone, who played the character of an ISI agent who shifted her loyalty at the right time to join Pathaan aka SRK.
