Modi govt waging brazen attack on Indians’ right to speak, question and dissent: Kharge
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Modi government has launched a brazen and calculated attack on the democratic right of every Indian to speak, question and to dissent, while he condemned its orders to remove content from social media platforms.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Kharge’s remarks came after a report revealed that the BJP-led Indian government issued around 1.95 lakh blocking orders to social media platforms in just five months, most of them linked to protests by students and youth demanding accountability from authorities over examination irregularities. Reportedly, the government sent one blocking order to social media firms every minute between March and July this year, with more than half directed to Instagram, a key platform for the protests.
“Modi Government has launched its most brazen and calculated attack on the democratic right of every Indian to speak, to question and to dissent,” Kharge said in a post on X.
“Its social media censorship is as condemnable as the lathicharge and pellet guns they used on our youth!” he said, referring to the recent Cockroach Janta Party-led protest on the issue of NEET paper leak and reforms in the examination system.
“What we are seeing today is only the tip of the iceberg. 1.95 lakh blocking orders in just 5 months. One every 68 seconds. Not against criminals, but against students, young Indians who came out on the streets demanding accountability for their stolen futures and their rigged examinations,” Kharge said
He said that the protesters were assaulted in daylight and at the very same time, “post by post and reel by reel, every single voice that supported them was being systematically erased from the internet by direct government order.”
Kharge further said, “Any creator, any journalist, any ordinary citizen who posts something critical of this government today faces immediate takedowns, threatening FIR notices and coordinated intimidation.
“Meanwhile, the ruling party’s ‘Andhbhakt’ (blind follower) freely doxes women, issues rape threats and runs organised harassment campaigns online without a single legal consequence, because none less than the PM follows many such trolls!” the Congress president said.
He also said that the Modi government had reduced the time available for takedown action to three hours and automated the censorship process to such an extent that orders could be executed without adequate human scrutiny before content was removed.
