In Modi’s India, opponents and journalists feel trapped in the run-up to the elections

NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are increasingly using strong tactics to subdue political opponents and critics of the ruling Hindu nationalist party ahead of national elections starting this week.

Ten years in power, and on the verge of securing another five years, the Modi government is undoing India’s decades-long commitment to multiparty democracy and secularism.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has filed corruption charges against many officials of its main rival, the Congress Party, but few convictions. Dozens of politicians from other opposition parties are under investigation or in prison. And just last month, Modi’s government froze the Congress party’s bank accounts because it said taxes had not been paid.

The Modi government says the country’s investigative bodies are independent and democratic institutions are robust, pointing to high turnout in recent elections that have given Modi’s party a clear mandate.

Yet civil liberties are under attack. Peaceful protests have been violently suppressed. A once free and diverse press is under threat. Violence against the Muslim minority is increasing. And the country’s judiciary is increasingly aligning itself with the executive.

To better understand how Modi is reshaping India and what’s at stake in the elections that start Friday and run through June 1, The Associated Press spoke with a lawyer, a journalist and an opposition politician.

Here are their stories:

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Mihir Desai has been fighting for the civil liberties and human rights of India’s most disadvantaged communities, such as the poor and Muslims, for almost four decades.

The 65-year-old lawyer from the Indian financial capital Mumbai is now working on one of his – and the most high-profile – cases in the country: defending a dozen political activists, journalists and lawyers who were jailed in 2018 on charges of conspiracy to commit the To overthrow Modi. government. The accusations, he says, are baseless — just one of the government’s all-too-frequent and bold attempts to silence critics.

One of the defendants in the case, a Jesuit priest and longtime civil rights activist, died at the age of 84 after about nine months in custody. The other suspects remain in prison, charged under anti-terrorism laws that rarely lead to convictions.

“The first authorities came up with a theory that they were planning to kill Modi. Now they are accused of being sympathizers of terrorists,” he said.

The purpose of all this, Desai believes, is to send a message to any critics.

According to digital forensics experts from US-based Arsenal Consulting, the Indian government hacked the computers of some of the suspects and planted files that were later used as evidence against them.

For Desai, this is evidence that the Modi government has ‘weaponized’ the country’s once independent investigative agencies.

He sees threats to Indian democracy all around him. Last year, the government removed the country’s chief justice as one of three people who appoint commissioners who oversee elections; Modi and the opposition leader in parliament are the others. Now one of Modi’s ministers has a say in the process, giving the ruling party a 2-1 majority.

“It is the death knell for free and fair elections,” Desai said.

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Waheed-Ur-Rehman Para, 35, has long been seen as an ally in the Indian government’s interests in Kashmir. He worked with young people in the semi-autonomous, predominantly Muslim region, preaching to them about the benefits of embracing India and its democratic institutions – versus seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.

However, as of 2018, Para was viewed with suspicion by the Modi government due to alleged links with anti-India separatists. Since then, he has been jailed twice: in 2019 on suspicion that he and other political opponents might foment unrest; and in 2020 on charges of supporting militant groups – charges he denies.

The allegations stunned Para, whose People’s Democratic Party once ruled Kashmir in an alliance with Modi’s party.

But he believes the motivation was clear: “I was arrested to forcibly endorse the 2019 government decision,” he said, referring to the suppression of resistance in Kashmir following the abolition of the region’s semi-autonomous status.

Modi’s government says the move was necessary to fully integrate the disputed region with India and promote economic development there.

After his arrest in 2020, Para spent almost two years in prison, often in solitary confinement, and was subjected to “abusive interrogations”, UN experts said.

“My crime was that I wanted the integration of Kashmir and not through the barrel of the gun,” said Para, who wants to represent Kashmir’s main city in the upcoming elections.

Para sees his own fate within the broader context of the Modi government’s efforts to silence perceived opponents, especially those associated with Muslims, who make up 14% of India’s population.

“It is a huge ethical question … that the largest democracy in the world is unable to assimilate or provide dignity to the smallest group of people,” he said.

The campaign to turn once-secular India into a Hindu republic may help Modi win elections in the short term, Para said, but something much bigger will be lost.

“It jeopardizes the whole idea of ​​the diversity of this country,” he said.

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In October 2020, independent journalist Sidhique Kappan was arrested while trying to report on government repression in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Modi’s party.

For days, authorities struggled to contain protests and outrage over a gruesome rape case. The suspects in the crime were four upper-caste Hindu men, while the victim belonged to the Dalit community, the lowest rung of India’s caste hierarchy.

Kappan, a 44-year-old Muslim, was arrested and jailed before he even reached the scene of the crime, accused of inciting violence. After two years in prison, his case reached India’s highest court in 2022. Although he was quickly released on bail, the case against him is still pending.

Kappan’s case is not unique and, he says, highlights how India is becoming increasingly unsafe for journalists. Under intense pressure from the state, many Indian news organizations have become more flexible and supportive of government policies.

“Those who have tried to be independent have been mercilessly attacked by the government,” he said.

For example, foreign journalists are not allowed to report in Kashmir. The same goes for India’s northeastern state of Manipur, which has been embroiled in ethnic violence for almost a year.

Television news is increasingly dominated by stations promoting the government’s Hindu nationalist agenda, such as a new citizenship law that excludes Muslim migrants. Independent TV stations have been temporarily closed, and newspapers with articles critical of Modi’s agenda are finding that all government advertising – a key source of revenue – is quickly drying up.

Last year, the BBC’s Indian offices were raided over tax irregularities, just days after it aired a documentary critical of Modi.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranks India 161st on a global list of countries’ press freedoms.

Kappan said he has had little news to report since his arrest. The trial keeps him busy, requiring him to travel hundreds of miles away to a court every week. The time and money required for his trial have made it difficult for him to support his wife and three children, Kappan said.

“It affects their education and their mental health,” he said.