Public Comment

Amidst the raging COVID pandemic threatening the lives of millions of Indians, the Modi government is squandering precious resources to silence climate activists like Dishi Ravi. Ravi has been charged with sedition, incitement and involvement in an international conspiracy including but not limited to: protests by Indian farmers, the global pop star Rihanna, threats against yoga and chai, Sikh separatism and Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg.

Heaven forbid! Is Dishi threatening to ban my morning cup of delicious chai? Really? Perhaps, Modi harks back to the good old days when he was a happy chaiwalla!

By using the shotgun approach, hoping one the lubricious charges would stick, the BJP government has exposed itself to world-wide ridicule and condemnation. Cartoonists and editorial writers must be having a field day with the Dishi-Modi saga unless they are too terrified of Modi’s secret police. What happened to the India that boasted to be the world’s largest democracy?

Following nine days of intense interrogation (perhaps a new form of police filibustering?) the presiding judge released her issuing a scathing criticism of gross police misconduct stating the report was , “scanty and sketchy”, and there is not “even an iota” of proof to support the charges. Well said sir!

Much like the US, absurd anti-democratic loony conspiracy theories gain speedy traction on American social media platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter, closely knitted WhatsApp’s groups, and private Zoom sessions. The Indian government has also used these media tools to turn the public against popular movements like the farmers' protests and climate activists. In practical terms these activists are voicing concern for the poor and survival of the planet emulating the spiritual messages in our sacred scriptures. After all wasn’t Jesus an ultra-leftie? Didn’t Guru Nanak target the insidious caste system denouncing the high-low construct of modern day Hinduism?

Indian politicians should applaud these brave activists, embrace democracy and abandon their satanic schemes. With all the tools of tyranny at its disposal, India is on the knife edge of descending into a nation of gross intolerance and mayhem. The Delhi riots targeting the Muslim minority in 2019 is just a small example of what might follow. Not a single indictment has occurred even though the guilty, including the Delhi police, are well known. Fear and intimidation continue to haunt the Muslim victims and the community at large.

At the same time, these social tools have been used in a coordinated pro-government messaging campaign to turn public sentiment against young activists' and farmers' protests , often in clear violation of the guardrails social media companies falsely claim to have erected to prevent violent incitement on their platforms.

India should follow Europe’s role in demanding these American companies exercise more stringent oversight or face heavy financial penalties. 

In a country where online hatred has occurred with chilling frequency and ferocity, human-rights activists are warning that India could easily descend into an intolerant autocracy aided and abetted by social media platforms much like the pogroms against Rohingya in Myanmar.