The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties strongly condemned the recent crackdown on news website NewsClick, calling it “the BJP government’s fresh attack on the media.”
“We steadfastly stand with the media and for the constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and expression,” read a statement issued by the INDIA.
The Delhi Police are Tuesday conducting raids in at least 35 locations, including houses of seven journalists and places associated with the news portal NewsClick. A fresh case has been registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell against the news portal under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The organisation is under the scanner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) amid allegations it received funds from China.
Among those who were reportedly raided were the website’s editor, Prabir Purkayastha, journalists Abhisar Sharma, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Bhasha Singh, Sumedha Pal, Aritry Das and satirist Sanjay Rajaura.
“In the last nine years, the BJP government has deliberately persecuted and suppressed the media by deploying investigative agencies to suppress the British Broadcasting Corporation, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar, the Kashmir Walla, the Wire etc., and most recently the journalists of NewsClick,” read INDIA’s statement.
The statement further said: “The BJP government has also tried to convert the media into a mouthpiece for its partisan and ideological interests by facilitating the takeover of media organisations by crony capitalists. Both the government and its ideologically aligned organisations have resorted to reprisals against individual journalists who spoke truth to power.”
“Furthermore, the BJP government has also spearheaded regressive policies like the Information Technology Rules 2021 that constrict the media from reporting objectively. In doing so, the BJP is not only hiding its sins of omissions and commission from the people of India. It is also compromising India’s global standing as a mature democracy,”
added the statement.
The INDIA parties went on to say: “The BJP government’s coercive actions are invariably directed against only those media organisations and journalists that speak truth to power. Ironically, the BJP government is paralysed when it comes to taking action against those journalists inciting hatred and divisiveness in the nation. In the national interest, it would behove the BJP Government to focus on genuine issues of concern to the nation and the people, and stop attacking the media to distract attention from its failures.”
Meanwhile, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, responding to media questions, said in Bhubaneswar, “I don’t need to justify… If anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines…”
 parties strongly condemned the recent crackdown on news website NewsClick, calling it “the BJP government’s fresh attack on the media.”){kind=link}