(Getty Images via BBC News)
Venkat Raman
Auckland, October 8, 2023
When the New York Times published its investigative report (on August 5 with an update on August 10), neither its authors (Mara Hvistendahl, David A Fahrenthold, Lynsey Chutel and Ishaan Jhaveri) nor the publishers would have realised the storm that it would cause in India.
The report was about a financial network that stretches from Chicago in the US to Shanghai in China, and how it uses American nonprofits to push Chinese talking points worldwide.
It named Neville Roy Singham, an American millionaire (founder of Tricontinental, a Massachusetts Think Tank and other companies), also known as a socialist benefactor of far-left causes. According to the publication, he lives in Shanghai.
“What is less known and is hidden amid a tangle of nonprofit groups and shell companies, is that Mr Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide,” the NY Times said and reported that his network financed NewsClick, a news site “that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points. It partners with ‘People’s Watch,’ an international media organisation, whose video clip (carried by the NY Times) shows “China as a major power in global politics countering imperialist forces.”
NewsClick men arrested
Five days ago (on October 3, 2023) the New Delhi Police (which is under the direct control of the Federal Home Ministry and not the State Government of Delhi) arrested NewsClick Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha and Human Resources Head Amit Chakraborty.
The Police action was undertaken on the directives of the Enforcement Directorate, which falls under the Finance Ministry but deals with economic crime and hence comes under the larger jurisdiction of the Home Ministry.
According to news reports, the Police raided the homes of more than 100 journalists, contractors and former employees associated with NewsClick, People’s Dispatch (an international media organisation, formerly known as The Dawn News) and Tricontinental Research Services in New Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Gurgaon (Haryana) and Mumbai. The reports said that the journalists were being booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). There was no evidence provided.
On Friday (October 6), the Delhi High Court refused to grant interim bail to Editor-in-Chief Mr Purkayastha and Mr Chakraborty on the grounds that the allegations levelled against them were not of such a nature where ‘immediate relief could be given.’
“You may be right or wrong, but we will have to give them (Delhi Police) a hearing,” Justice Tushar Rao Gedela told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented the two arrested men.
Almost at the same time, the Police searched the Mumbai home of social activist Teesta Setalvad, Director of Tricontinental Institute for Social Research (which has contributed articles to NewsClick), and the official residence of CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury in New Delhi while looking for the son of a party member who works at NewsClick.
The Reports said that the people subjected to the raids had direct or indirect ties to NewsClick and included contributors, columnists, and editorial staff. Historian Sohail Hashmi, Science Writer D Raghunandan, and Cartoonist Irfan Khan were also subject to raids.
India’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur accused NewsClick of spreading an anti-India agenda. On the same day (October 3), the Press Club of India held an emergency meeting in New Delhi at which journalists and media activists resolved ‘to continue fighting for media freedom in India.’
Compliant and Complaining Media
Politics of religion has sharply divided India and such division is reflected in the media even more.
Some observers (within the country) say that most mainstream print, radio and television channels are sympathetic to the Modi government while a few including The Hindu, The Wire, Karan Thapar and Rajdeep Sardesai are not afraid to take the critical line. These organisations and individuals have slammed the Delhi Police, the Enforcement Directorate and the Federal government for scuttling media freedom. Mr Sardesai, who anchors a daily news programme for India Today and presents a weekly video blog called, ‘Straight Bat with Rajdeep Sardesai,’ told his viewers on Saturday (October 7) of a threatening call that he had received over his news coverage of the incident.
With the Indian media sharply divided (with a majority favouring the Narendra Modi government), it was difficult to discern facts but N Ram, Chairman of The Hindu Group (and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu) is among few senior journalists who have described the raids and arrests as reminiscent of the dark days of Emergency of 1975.
Reminiscent of the State of Emergency
This Reporter remembers the severe restrictions under which journalists had to function when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency and muzzled the press for 21 months from June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977. Censorship was imposed and the Indian Express chose to run empty Editorial columns rather than sing the song of the government.
On October 5, 2023, Mr Ram told Karan Thapar (Wire India) that the charges that NewsClick was being funded by China were wrong and named American businessman and social activist Neville Roy Singham as the financier.
According to The Hindu, “the Police action is seen by many as an attack on one of the few independent media outlets in the country and has sparked concerns about dwindling press freedom in India. In February this year, similar raids were conducted by authorities at the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices weeks after it released a documentary critical of Narendra Modi. Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for journalists, ranked India 161st in its press freedom rankings this year, marking its lowest-ever position, citing a deterioration from ‘problematic’ to ‘very bad.’ It is worth noting that NewsClick was already under scrutiny by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central financial crimes probing agency. In August, the ED attached a flat linked to Purkayastha in New Delhi’s Saket as part of its money laundering probe. The central probing agency had also raided Purkayastha’s premises in September 2021,” the publication said.
BBC News published a report quoting a source close to Mr Purkayastha, saying that 15 policemen visited his home at 6.30 am on October 3, 2023.
“They did not produce any warrants or paperwork, questioned him for several hours and took away all the electronic devices they found at home,” the report said.
BBC said that later, news agencies showed him being taken away by the Police in a vehicle.
It is understood that popular satirist Sanjay Rajoura was also questioned.
His lawyer, Ilin Saraswat, said that the comedian was raided at the same time and that the Police took away his laptop, his two phones, some DVDs of his old work and some documents. The Police said that Mr Rajoura is not named in the current investigation, but since he has worked with the website, he will be interrogated. We have not been provided a copy of the Police complaint,” he added.
The People’s Dispatch dubbed it as ‘coordinated repressive action’ and said, “It was carried out as part of an investigation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a draconian law which has been widely criticised by human rights organisations in India and internationally as it undermines civil liberties and rights.”
Expression of Solidarity
Several organisations have expressed their solidarity and demanded the immediate release of the journalists. They included The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia, The Press Club of India, the Editors Guild of India, the Indian Women’s Press Corps, The National Alliance of Journalists, The Delhi Union of Journalists and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (Delhi Unit), The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), The All India Lawyers Union and the DIGIPUB News India Foundation.
Among the prominent persons who criticised the raids and defended media freedom were Lawyer and Rajya Sabha Member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and author and activist Arundathi Roy.
Most other mainstream newspapers and news channels desisted from offering comments, except to report the evolving story. The Republic TV, known for its pro-Modi and pro-Bharatiya Janata Party stance, accused the journalists of complexity and supporting China.
