London – While Narendra Modi ascends the throne as the most popular in the world among 22 government leaders polled by the American consulting firm Morning Consultant and has 75% approval, the Indian government expels critics and even journalists.
The latest episode featured Angad Singh, a journalist for the American news site Vice News. As a dual citizen, she traveled to India to visit her mother in the last week of August, but was sent back to the US three hours after landing in New Delhi.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) declared on Monday (5) that “the expulsion of a journalist is unacceptable in any free and democratic society.”
Journalist deported in the country ranks 150th in press freedom
India ranks 150th in the press freedom rankings of the international Organization of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which lists 180 countries.
The violence against journalists, the political partisan media and the intensification of media ownership shows that freedom of the press is in crisis in the “world’s largest democracy” ruled by the US since 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and personification of the nationalist right, says RSF.
The country analysis in the report shows that:“The government and its supporters, under the pretext of fighting Covid-19, have launched a lawsuit war against media outlets that contradict the official statements about the news of the pandemic.
Journalists trying to cover strikes and anti-government protests are often arrested and sometimes arbitrarily detained.
Or prevented from traveling outside or inside the country. In July, the photojournalist for international news agency Reuters Sana Irshad Mattoo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning news of Covid-19 in India was banned from flying to Europe to join the headwinds about the award.
Before that, there was Rana Ayyub, a critic who, in March, frequently engaged in judicial harassment of Modi. Banned from Mumbai airport from traveling to London.
The situation is now reversed: a journalist critical of the government has been banned from entering to see his family. Angad Singh is a video documentary producer for Vice News, one of the world’s leading digital media outlets.
In May 2021, Singh produced a documentary for Vice about the Indian government’s inefficient handling of the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. ‘India’s Covid Hell’ (India Covid Hell), Emmy Award nominee.
He has also documented the pandemic in other Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Pakistan. In India, the documentary was recorded manifestations Citizenship Amendment Act and protests of the farmers.
According to the journalist’s family, Singh’s passport confiscated It was promptly sent back to the US on August 24, 15 minutes after arrival.
In a statement on social media, Singh’s mother, writer Gurmeet Kaur, confirmed that her son was deported from India after traveling 18 hours to visit him in Punjab.
The mother of the deported journalist attributes the action to ‘awarded journalism’
According to the International Federation of Journalists, Kaur told Indian newspapers, Singh is the reason for deportation.
“We know it’s award-winning journalism that scares them. The stories he’s made and the stories he’s been able to handle,” he told the Hindustan Times.
The IFJ says the case is not an isolated case, recalling the cases of other journalists whose departure was made difficult by the authorities.
“The gratuitous travel ban on critical and independent journalists shows that the Indian government has clearly disregarded press freedom. The IJF condemns the deportation of Angad Singh and urges the government to end the ongoing harassment and intimidation of journalists and media workers.”
Despite the high contamination and death rates caused by the coronavirus in India, a worldwide reported crisis, the Indian population disapproves of Narendra Modi’s handling of the pandemic.
According to the Morning Advisor poll, which monitors the popularity of leaders in 22 countries on a monthly basis, the Indian prime minister has suffered a slump.and to 83% to 65% in April 2020. But it did manage to reverse the curve in the second wave of the pandemic, and its approval has grown since then.
It is followed by Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador from Mexico with 70% approval and Anthony Albanese from Australia with 58%.
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source: Noticias
