The Delhi Police raided residences of several journalists, activists, authors and
satirists and engaged in search and seizure of books, journals, magazines, laptops and
mobile phones, allegedly without any warrant, on the morning of 3rd October, 2023. It
was reported that houses of journalists Urmilesh, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Bhasha
Singh, Abhisar Sharma, Prabir Purkayastha, Aunindyo Chakravarty, historian Sohail
Hashmi, social activist Teesta Setalvad, author Gita Hariharan, satirist Sanjay Rajoura
and scientist D. Raghunandan were raided, with the Delhi Police giving no clarity on
the reasons behind this crackdown and widespread search and seizures.
The common thread between the persons who were raided is their well-known
critical approach towards the wrongdoings of the Modi Government, instead of
compliance as desired by the BJP. These journalists and activists have questioned the
Modi regime on several critical issues like the mishandling of the Manipur crisis, the
Adani-Hindenburg revelations, spread of fake news, communalisation of society and
media, Pegasus snooping issue, corruption in the Raphael Deal etc. It is publicly known
that the BJP did not allow even the Parliament to discuss the Manipur crisis or the Adani
revelation and used different tactics to avoid discussion on these critical issues,
including by causing repeated disruptions.
The raids conducted today should be seen in this context and they are concerning
for the future of independence of press and freedom of speech. Muzzling of criticism
and curbing free flow of information are detrimental for democracy. Reacting to these
concerning developments, CPI Parliamentary Leader and National Secretary Binoy
Viswam said, “Modi government’s crackdown on press has already brought India among
the bottom 20 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Several journalists are in
jails under draconian charges for reporting the truth. BJP’s contempt for a democratic
society is visible to all. These raids are condemnable desperate attempts to hide gross
misgovernance, corruption and failures of the last 9 years.”
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