How much is the threat makes a difference Under Modi, India’s Press Is Not So Free Anymore (Published 2020)
RSF Names PM Modi Among 37 'Predators of Press Freedom' With Kim Jong-un, Imran Khan India is ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index. RSF is the world’s biggest NGO specialising in the defence of media freedom, which is regarded as a basic human right to be informed and to inform others. Modi joins the likes of Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Myanmar’s military head Min Aung Hlaing and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, along with 32 others who “trample on press freedom by creating a censorship apparatus, jailing journalists arbitrarily or inciting violence against them when they don’t have blood on their hands because they have directly or indirectly pushed for journalists to be murdered.”
Didn't we see huge press coverage on thr covid deaths. Atleast modi gave padma sree awards to deserving people than the likes of barkha dutt
That’s probably because you also adopted the America that puts free speech above all else. I can still remember the time I would have been affronted by this. I remember identifying with the airing dirty laundry for the world to see sentiment. I think until becoming an American and understanding the US constitution and the rights it affords to me, I would always look at such incidents as unpatriotic and un-Indian or un-American. Only now, with the worldly exposure and experience, can I accept this as a form of protest. I can accept this as his view point and his protected speech. Protected free speech, however radical, is our first constitutional right as an American. Most people who don’t agree with speakers are aware that it’s their view point and they can be as angry as they want to be, but there is nothing you can do about it. Indians are united against such speech or signs of such disrespect. It’s a sign of personal affront, is considered unpatriotic and is a show of disrepute to India outside the country. It would boil my blood back then. Could you imagine kneeling to the flag, sitting out the national anthem etc before you immigrated? Only tacit Pak supporters did that. I remember going for a movie and them playing the national anthem at the end. There was a huge riot in the theater because a bunch of muslims sat down during the national anthem. They were made to stand and the anthem played again. I don’t blame people for feeling this way. It’s usually the unscrupulous elements in the society who don’t respect the country. Once in a while, when someone like Vir Das speaks the truth, we associate him with the same disdain we have for those people who sit during the national anthem.
