MPs condemn sedition case against The Wire’s journalists
New Delhi: Eighteen opposition political party MPs have expressed concern at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government’s repeated use of a ‘repackaged’ sedition law against The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and its journalists who have written for it and veteran Karan Thapar over coverage during India’s Operation Sindoor.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Jairam Ramesh, Tiruchi Siva, John Brittas, Ramgopal Yadav, Digvijaya Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Renuka Choudhary, Mukul Wasnik, Sakthisinh Gohil, Syed Naseer Hussain, Javed Ali Khan, A.A. Rahim, V. Sivadasan, R. Girirajan, Anil Kumar Yadav, K. Kanimozhi, Karti Chidambaram and Mahua Moitra in a statement denounced the Assam Police’s harassment of Siddharth Varadarajan, Karan Thapar and other journalists associated with The Wire.
They said the summons to journalists is a blatant attack on press freedom and democracy itself. The BJP government in Assam is misusing rebranded sedition laws to intimidate independent voices and silence criticism. We strongly condemn this and demand its withdrawal, they added.
They called upon the police to immediately withdraw these malafide cases.
Earlier, several opposition leaders had spoken out in support of The Wire as well.
Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam head M.K. Stalin noted that a democracy cannot survive if those asking questions are treated as seditious.
In a post on X, Stalin wrote:I strongly condemn the action of the Assam Police in issuing summons to senior journalists [Siddharth Varadarajan] and [Karan Thapar] of The Wire.
