Read: How US media is viewing Modi led Indian Govt following Disha Ravi’s arrest
New Delhi, February 28, 2021: The arrest of 22-year-old Bangalore-based activist Disha Ravi in Tool Kit controversy has once against put Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government in the limelight with some international media platforms now questioning on whether India still deserves the title of world’s largest democracy or not.
An Editorial published in The Washington Post, a major American daily newspaper on February 25, 2021, criticized Modi led government for the arrest of climate change activist.
"The persecution of a young climate change activist highlights India's drift towards autocracy. Any government that would charge a 22-year-old climate and animal rights activist with sedition on the basis of a Google document cannot be readily described as democracy. So the arrest this month by the Indian administration of the Modi government ought to ring alarm bells about whether the country that boasts of being the world’s largest democracy still deserve that title,”
The editorial stated that there is a broad pattern on how the government has indulged in suppressing dissent voices.
“What is particularly disturbing about Ms. Ravi’s persecution is that it is a part of a broad pattern of speech suppression and other violation of democratic norms by the Modi government. Several journalists who covered a day of a demonstration by the farmers last month also faced criminal charges,’ it further read.
The editorial further projected ongoing farmers’ protest ‘as evidence of Modi’s disregard of standards.
“The agricultural reform legislation that triggered the farmers’ protest is itself evidence of Modi’s disregard of standards. Most economists think the reforms, which deregulated agricultural sales and storage were necessary and even long overdue. But Mr. Modi’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party rammed them through parliament without meaningful debate, not even allowing a recorded vote in the upper house. Similar tactics were used to adopt controversial laws on citizenship and to revoke the autonomy of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. In each case, the fierce opposition they aroused is met with sedition charges, censorship, and Internet shutdowns.”
The way ongoing farmers’ protest and any episodes associated with is being closely watched by the international media and other international entities, the Indian government might need to do more than brushing off all the feedback as ‘not accurate or responsible’.
The arrest of 22-year-old Bangalore-based activist Disha Ravi in the Tool kit controversy on February 13 has led many to point fingers at the government on how they are handling the farmers’ movement against farm bills or any incident related to it.
The arrest was extensively opposed by people from all walks of life including retired bureaucrats, intellectuals, opposition, farmers, and even social media users. The outpour of support for Disha also prompted Delhi Police to justify Disha’s arrest who claimed that the activist was in touch with pro-Khalistani sympathizers.
While Disha is now out on bail after Delhi Session Court observed that evidence submitted in the court was ‘sketchy, scanty’, the voices against the move of the world’s biggest democratic government do not seem to die down.