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Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

theguardian.com

121–130 of 213 posts

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#122
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember stories of people beaten up for not standing for the anthem in the cinema, one of them was disabled wheelchair user. So I guess it is like that for a while especially after the Hindutvas got into power.

Oh yeah, freedom of speech flourished under Congress rule /s Who was the only prime minister to invoke emergency?

Indira wasn't a saint but Modi is evil personified.

Emergency was invoked and was soon revoked. If you are careful, you can see India is now again under Emergency since 2015. And things are getting worse. The difference between 1975 and 2015 is that earlier it was declared openly but in present case it wasn't declared, rather it was systemically implemented by developing a hate mongering Hindutva brigade. Press freedom was gone for may be one year during 1975. But now? It is gone for good 5 years. In 1975, no particular community was targeted. Now? Every muslim is at risk. Heck, even Hindus who are anti-Modi are at risks. During 1975, journalists were able to protest against Indira Gandhi. And now? You'd be put in jail for whatever reason. No journlist can dare to oppose Modi.

India is in worse condition now than it was in 1975.

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that relevant to the topic at hand? Please don't resort to whataboutery and lower the standard of discussion.

It shows the duplicity and double standards When the west starts point fingers at India for - free speech, human rights, co2 emissions or for that matter oil imports from Russia. There is still a colonial mindset at the institutional level where they believe they can just pass arbitrary unfounded judgments and the world has no choice but to accept it. But clearly the data exposes their duplicity.

> or for that matter oil imports from Russia

India has been given a free pass on its oil and materiel imports from Russia. It's something China complains about quite a bit.

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#125

I admit I'm not super familiar with India's freedom of speech, is this a backslide or has it always been like this?

The current Modi government is held to a much higher standard than the previous congress dynasty.

Freedom of speech is much worse in non BJP states like Tamil Nadu.

There is a huge cabal of bureaucracy, media, academia, judiciary and foreign institutions that profited handsomely under the corruption ecosystem built by the congress.

They are infuriated by the people's choice of a more honest and a non-dynast like Modi.

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#126
post #123

Quoted post unavailable.

You're the first person to bring the US culture war into this conversation. Every other time the US has come up, it's either to note the exceptionally strong legal protections we have or to bring up the relatively limited legal restrictions we do have (EDIT: all in the context of this story about India).

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#127

I admit I'm not super familiar with India's freedom of speech, is this a backslide or has it always been like this?

India ranks 142nd on the World Press Freedom Index for 2021 [1] out of 180 countries tracked by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a very embarrassing ranking for the world's most populous or largest democracy.

[1]: https://rsf.org/en/ranking

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shows the duplicity and double standards When the west starts point fingers at India for - free speech, human rights, co2 emissions or for that matter oil imports from Russia. There is still a colonial mindset at the institutional level where they believe they can just pass arbitrary unfounded judgments and the world has no choice but to accept it. But clearly the data exposes their duplicity.

> or for that matter oil imports from Russia India has been given a free pass on its oil and materiel imports from Russia. It's something China complains about quite a bit.

But US and Europe has increased it's purchase by 8 and 15 percent respectively

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#129
post #123

Quoted post unavailable.

You're the first person to bring the US culture war into this conversation. Every other time the US has come up, it's either to note the exceptionally strong legal protections we have or to bring up the relatively limited legal restrictions we do have (EDIT: all in the context of this story about India).

Good, this means that the people here are smart. Hence why I said get everyone else :) (i.e. I legit wasn't thinking about people posting here)

Re: Indian lawmaker arrested after tweet criticising Narendra Modi

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Germany censors the swastika - which has been used by eastern religions for millennia. I think democracy and free speech are different things. Absolute free speech is desired - but not all democracies implement it. Either way, I don’t think India has ever had “free speech”. It has always been controlled speech.

> Absolute free speech is desired Is it? Curtailing the ‘freedom’ to be as offensive as one wants, consequences be dammed, is not something everyone agrees with. Even the US places limits on free speech for these reasons.

The US doesn’t limit speech. Private platforms are self censoring. It has even upheld the right of citizens to burn the flag [0](reprehensible as it might be in the view of the majority).

0. https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-a...

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