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The suffocation of democracy in India
Attacks on the progressive Indian news outlet NewsClick coincided with the suspension of 141 opposition members of Indian parliament, both constituting serious attacks on Indian democracy, writes VIJAY PRASHAD
DEMOCRACY BLOCKED: Indian paramilitary soldiers erect a barricade to prevent suspended lawmakers from marching outside Parliament House in
New Delhi, India, December 21, 2023
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ON December 18 and 19, 141 members of the two houses of India’s Parliament were suspended by the Speaker of the House, Om Birla. Each of these members belong to the parties that oppose the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government said that these elected members were suspended for “unruly behaviour.” The opposition had shaped itself into the INDIA bloc, which included almost every party not affiliated to the BJP. They responded to this action by calling it the “murder of democracy” and alleging that the BJP government has installed an “extreme level of dictatorship” in India. This act comes after a range of attempts to undermine India’s elected opposition.
Meanwhile, on December 18, the Indian news website NewsClick announced that the Income Tax (IT) department “has virtually frozen our accounts.” NewsClick can no longer make payments to its employees, which means that this news media portal is now close to being silenced.
The editors at NewsClick said that this action by the IT department is “a continuation of the administrative-legal siege” that began with the Enforcement Directorate raids in February 2021, was deepened by the IT department survey in September 2021, and the large-scale raids of October 3, 2023, that resulted in the arrest of NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha and its administrative officer Amit Chakraborty. Both remain in prison.
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