"Arrest of 21 yr old Disha Ravi is an unprecedented attack on Democracy. Supporting our farmers is not a crime." said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Disha Ravi, the 21 year old climate activist from Bangalore, was picked up by the Delhi police from her house in Soladevanahalli for questioning on 13th February. As indicated by Mr. Kejriwal in his tweet, her arrest was an "unprecedented" and largely unpopular move by the Delhi Police, which consequently triggered worldwide condemnation against the sitting government and their illegitimate ways of silencing freedom of speech in the country. Nine-year-old climate activist Licypriya Kangujam expressed her absolute disgust for the government in her tweet, which said, "This is an attempt to silence the voices of young girls & women in this country. But THIS WILL NOT STOP US from fighting for our planet & future."
Media worldwide joined the long list of people who blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party and reflected on the government's visible pattern of executive bullying. The BBC has described her arrest as an execution of "draconian" colonial-era sedition laws. While her arrest is a deplorable addition to the unending list of government crackdown against internet freedom in India, things don't stop right here. This is about more than just one arrest or one tweet; it's about what it symbolises, and more importantly, it's about what it means for us as citizens of this country? The Modi administration has successfully simulated a fascist government since its initial days in office, starting from the demonetisation of the Indian currency back in 2016, to the largely aggressive strategy against the unanswered popular protest by the farmers, which finally resulted in the arrest of Disha Ravi. Almost every executive decision taken by this administration had discernible fascist traits ingrained within. But the strongest and most offensive among them has been their nationalist political agenda of Hindutva in India which evidently goes against every fibre of our country's secular existence derived from our constitution.
When the government had to face resistance from its own citizens in the form of a peaceful protest turned violent earlier this year, they blamed the opposition of explicitly provoking the farmers by instigating fallacious claims denigrating the farmer's bill, when in reality, this falls under a predetermined larger pattern of scapegoating the opposition and authoritarian tendencies of intimidation of mass through fear of arrest.
The Modi government's fascist tendencies are prominent in the eyes of Generation Z but sadly camouflaged to much of the older generation and, more specifically, to the religiously biased older generation who look up to Modi as a man of unearthly potential and an unshakable god complex. Undeniably this is what we mean when we talk about Chairman Mao Tse Tung's cult of personality. Honestly, when one thinks about it, Mao Zedong could have been a better friend to Modi than Xi Jinping can ever think of becoming. The Modi led BJP government uses propaganda and subsequent positive reinforcement as good as any other authoritarian government in world history books: starting from Adolf Hitler to Joseph Stalin. Then why is Gen Z so not okay with how the country is being run? The answer lies in 2 words, INTERNET FREEDOM.
It is no secret that we love our social media. We love reflecting on our opinions through social media, or at least we love looking at people of our age do the same. So when the government reacts to anti-government sentiments expressed on social media with a violent crackdown against individuals and treats it like hate speech, it becomes a fight for our freedom of speech. Internet Freedom in India has been declining since 2016; according to democracy watchdog Freedom House, between June 2019 and May 2020, India had the most number of internet shutdowns in the world.
2020 is not just indelible because of the pandemic; 2020 also encountered the Black Lives Matter Movement in America. More importantly, 2020 experienced the unrestricted and brutal force of social media activism against police brutality and racial injustice in America. Toolkits, protests and twitter storms had names like Barack Obama, Gigi Hadid, Ariana Grande and Cole Sprouse all over them. Peaceful protests became a sign of change and positive energy. While on the topic of protests and toolkits, let us explain what a toolkit is? It is a link to a digital database of information about an upcoming protest: that is information about the subject of the protest, the aim of the protest, date, time and location of the protest. It is basically a guide book for a planned peaceful protest spread throughout the country and even globally. Then why are the charges of sedition and conspiracy against Disha Ravi being investigated for editing and resharing a publicly available digital document?
According to Article 19(1) of the Indian constitution - All citizens shall have the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression; (b) to assemble peaceably and without arms; How unconstitutional is our present government led by Shri Narendra Modi? The answer is this administration has not and will not stop at any extent less than unconstitutional and illegitimate intimidation of free speech exercised by journalists and activists. According to Human Rights Watch, eight journalists who had covered the 26th January farmer's protest in Delhi are facing criminal charges of sedition and producing communal disharmony. On 30th January, Delhi police detained journalists Dharmender Singh and Mandeep Punia on account of misbehaving with the police. In Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana, sedition charges were brought up against six journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath, Vinod K Jose, and a member of parliament from the opposition party Dr Shashi Tharoor for misreporting facts about the protest. Last year in July, the Delhi police blocked the website of Fridays For Future India on account of their content being "objectionable" and "unlawful or terrorist act".
All these independent incidents fall under the pattern of the BJP led government's violent crackdown against freedom of speech and expression, which is a fundamental right in this country. Unlawful arrests and detainments are this government's go-to strategy for political intimidation and suppressing public opinion. Generation Z is not happy with how undemocratic India is becoming under Modi but will they be able to derail this negative development into their future?
(cover art courtesy: Ritika Khandelwal)
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