Skip to main content

Conservative US thinktank expert: Space to criticize govt till 2019 polls may further shrink under Modi watch

By Our Representative
In a strongly-worded opinion piece, a top American conservative thinktank expert, Sadanand Dhume, has warned that, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the “space to criticize the government or the ruling BJP without fear of retaliation… may shrink even more.”
Resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a columnist for America’s top business daily “Wall Street Journal” (wsj.com) , Dhume, who has been an ardent supporter of the Prime Minister’s economic reforms agenda unraveled in 2014, says, what is particularly disturbing is, this is happening on Narendra Modi’s “watch.”
Referring to the June 2 CBI raid on the residence of NDTV founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy, Dhume disagrees with the government version that this has nothing do with media freedom, adding, “In anonymous leaks to sympathetic media outlets, alleged government officials suggest they may also pursue more serious charges, including money laundering and concealment of income.”
Pointing out that the “government’s argument appears shaky”, Dhume says, “In India, large borrowers owe government-owned banks many billions of dollars. That the CBI’s case hinges on a nine-year-old loan repaid to a private bank seems to suggest, at the very least, an odd set of priorities.”
Dhume says, “The move against NDTV comes against the backdrop of a media landscape that has tilted noticeably toward the government. Prominent news channels now spend more time attacking the enfeebled opposition than scrutinizing the government.”
He adds, “The front pages of several major newspapers increasingly read like official press releases. The burden of holding the government accountable for its missteps has largely shifted to opinion writers and a clutch of online publications with far less reach than TV or newspapers.”
Noting that “for the most part, Modi eschews interviews and press conferences, preferring to communicate directly through Facebook ,Twitter and a regular radio address”, Dhume says, “His junior foreign minister, VK Singh, has helped popularize the pejorative term ‘presstitute’ to describe journalists.”
Sharply criticizing the BJP pays for paying “lip service to the idea of a free press”, Dhume underlines, “In party President Amit Shah’s formulation, criticizing the government remains permissible but criticizing the nation is out of bounds.”
Pointing out the type of persons the government has been appointing to gag media, Dhume says, “Earlier this year, the party appointed as its spokesperson Tajinder Bagga, notorious for a televised 2011 assault on a left-wing lawyer and anticorruption activist he deemed too sympathetic to Kashmiri separatists.” Bagga had tweeted, “He try to break my Nation, I try to break his head.”
Suggesting that corporate interests are the main reason why Indian media bends so much, Dhume says, “The owners of most major TV channels and newspapers juggle other business interests as well. They must negotiate a plethora of opaque laws and regulations that would make them vulnerable to government pressure.”
He adds, “Many outlets also rely on government advertising to stay afloat. All this ensures that Indian journalism maintains a long tradition of kissing up to power rather than questioning it.”
According to Dhume, “This government is particularly ruthless about cutting off access to reporters it deems unfriendly. The BJP also appears to at least tacitly encourage social-media lynch mobs that go after any journalist seen to be stepping out of line. No other major political party appoints trolls to responsible positions.”

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.