India's often touted as "the world's largest democracy," but under the governance of authoritarian nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it's getting harder to see that as reality. Modi, whose government has refused to condemn Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine while buying Russia's oil and armaments, is the subject of a BBC film, "India: The Modi Question," looking into Modi's role in deadly anti-Muslim riots in 2002. At the time, he was the leader of the state of Gujarat, and allegedly permitted, and even encouraged, rioters to attack Muslims, killing over 1,000. Modi's government banned the film, and is trying to prevent the sharing of it over social media (already succeeding with Twitter and YouTube). From the Associated Press:
"Days after India blocked a BBC documentary that examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots and banned people from sharing it online, authorities are scrambling to halt screenings of the program at colleges and universities and restrict clips of it on social media, a move that has been decried by critics as an assault on press freedom.
Tensions escalated in the capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday at Jamia Millia University, where a student group said it planned to screen the banned documentary, prompting dozens of police equipped with tear gas and riot gear to gather outside campus gates.
Police, some in plain clothes, scuffled with protesting students and detained at least half a dozen, who were taken away in a van.
'This is the time for Indian youth to put up the truth which everybody knows. We know what the prime minister is doing to the society,'said Liya Shareef, 20, a geography student and member of the student group Fraternity Movement." (our emphasis)
One of the first steps in establishing authoritarianism is to muzzle free speech and freedom of the press. Modi's increasingly right wing "populism," akin to the right wing "populism" espoused by the America Firsters / Trumpists, is turning India into a semi-authoritarian state, where basic rights assumed under a democracy are being curtailed or eliminated. It's not surprising that he's found sympathetic leaders in Trump and Putin, and it's a worrying development in a nation that prides itself as a democracy.
(photo: Brothers-in-arms. CNN)
