You cannot silence the whole world

The Narendra Modi government is too easily provoked and is too sensitive to criticism of its policies and actions from within the country and outside. The latest instance of its lack of tolerance of criticism is the summoning of the British High Commissioner to India, Alexander Ellis, by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to convey the government’s disapproval of the discussions on the farmers’ protest and press freedom in India in the British parliament. The government told the envoy of its “strong opposition to unwarranted and tendentious discussion on agricultural reforms in India in the British parliament.” The debate on Monday saw several MPs of the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party express concern over the Modi government’s handling of the protests.

In a globalised and inter-connected world, events and developments in one place tend to evoke responses elsewhere, and this cannot always be scoffed at as interference in the internal affairs of countries. It should be noted that the debate was not about the agricultural laws, which are India’s internal matter, but about the way the Modi government handled the protests, which is a human rights issue, and the targeting of journalists covering the protests, which is a matter of press freedom. When the right to protest, which is a basic democratic right, is curbed or when protests are demonised, it is a matter of concern for people everywhere who attach value to democratic rights. The existence of a large population of Indian origin in the UK may also have been a reason for some MPs to take note of it but that does not make it just a matter of vote bank politics.

India has seen increased suppression and violations of civil, political and human rights in the past few years. The country’s status was recently downgraded from ‘free’ to ‘partly free’ by the democracy watchdog Freedom House. It has slipped on other parameters like the Cato Institute’s freedom index. There is increasing concern over this outside the country. The farmers’ protest, which has continued for months, has evoked many responses from many quarters, including individuals and organisations. It is wrong to dub all this as a conspiracy against India or interference in its internal affairs. Government policies and responses should not be based on paranoia or intolerance of criticism. The right policy is to ensure that there is no reason for criticism of, or complaints about, the country over its human rights record and democratic practices. If the government thinks there is a wrong campaign against the country or a misunderstanding of its policies and actions, it can counter it with facts and a demonstration of its respect for the rights of the people.