Vigilante strive to strike fear in those who dare report the worsening situation on farmers front

The NOIDA 'social activist' who filed the FIR against journalists hint of the war BJP has been waging against the marginalised liberal Indian media, says PARSA VENKATESHWAR RAO Jr.

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IT is a curious fact that NOIDA's Sector 20 promptly registered a First Information Report (FIR) by a NOIDA resident and a 'social worker' (according to the police) charging journalists Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath and others of charges of sedition under different sections of the Indian Penal Code including sedition, promoting enmity between groups, outraging religious sentiments, spreading disinformation that threatened national unity over the death of the farmer-protester in the Republic Day clashes between the police and agitating farmers.

It would be futile to argue the case against the man who brought the charges because it is evident that the complainant is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter because only such a person would make a mockery of serious issues like sedition.

It is not surprising that the outraged NOIDA 'social activist should have brought the incongruous charges and only pliant police could have registered them so promptly.

The fact that the BJP is in power in Uttar Pradesh makes it all evident. This is a charge that should, and perhaps would, have come from the investigative agencies, and more likely than not, governmental agencies would have made the charges against these journalists on the same grounds as did the 'social activist'.

It does not matter whether these charges under the sections of IPC mentioned in the FIR would hold at all in a court of law for the purported illegal act of tweeting about the death of the farmer.

It seemed things were getting out of hand when the farmer-protestor died. It is but natural that the tweets reported what the farmers had said at the time – that the death was due to police firing, but it became clear later that it was due to the overturning of the speeding tractor which the protestor was driving recklessly.

Sardesai had tweeted the correct position as soon as the police made the statement. So, it cannot be the case that Sardesai was instigating anything. It would not be necessary to explain how a situation changes, and facts need to be updated constantly as fresh information pours in. This does not mean that what was stated earlier is a lie or that it was stated to mislead people.

That would be indeed the case if the information is not updated. The others who had expressed fears were doing because social media was resounding the BJP's trolls calling for a violent response to the mayhem caused by the farmers.

Twitter had suspended the accounts of the 500 of the Hindutva trolls.

What is at play is the enormous state power at the disposal of the BJP governments in the Centre and in the states. The informal army of vigilantes and trolls will always come up with these charges anywhere and every time.

The party and its followers are itching for a fight in the courts and on the streets and on social media platforms. The BJP is keen to intimidate people directly and indirectly.

Long before the emergence of social media and that of the Hindutva troll army supporting the delusional uncultured politics of the BJP, there was professional vigilante inside and outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who used to file cases and petitions in courts against those considered 'enemies' of the nation and the state.

Earlier, in the pre-social media era, the vigilante had only nuisance value. But now, with the party in power it has become ominous. The courts now have an additional responsibility that a sense of revenge arising from ideological hatred of the people named in the FIR do not become victims of unjust rulers and their vicious courtiers.

There is another interesting aspect. Like former United States President Donald Trump, who had declared an open war against the liberal media that criticised him, the BJP too had been waging an undeclared war against the liberal media and universities in India.

The irony is that unlike in the United States, the majority of the media have fallen in line and have turned into vocal supporters of the poisonous cultural agenda of the ruling right-wing party.

One would have assumed that with massive media support, the BJP would ignore the marginalised liberal media. But it seems that its intolerance levels have risen so high that it does not even want a trace of media criticism. It is waiting in ambush to pounce on the liberal media for the smallest provocation.

BJP governments seem to expect, nay demand, that criticism of the policies and actions of those in authority, is unacceptable, and it would be seditious if someone were to do it.

BJP may not succeed in imposing totalitarian rule for the simple reason that most Indians do not agree with each other, and it cannot be expected that they will agree with a government that wants to cow down people.

(Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr. is an author, political commentator and senior Delhi based journalist. The views are personal.)