Deja vu: National Struggle 2.0

Journalists take part in a candle-lit march against the police raid on the news portal NewsClick, in Mumbai, on October 5. Pic/PTI

All of us born after the National Struggle were provided a glimpse last week of what those decades might have felt like. Then too, as is now, the British government entangled dissidents in fake cases to pack them off to prison. Then too, as is now, the hope for a better future inspired many to overcome their fear of the oppressive British regime to walk the path of resistance.

On October 2, hope for a more substantive equality ballooned because of the Bihar caste survey findings. A fundamental question was subliminally raised: is it a just, democratic system wherein the upper castes, just 15.5 per cent of the state's population, should monopolise resources and representations? The caste survey was a strike against the quest of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party to perpetuate the hierarchical social order.

A day later, security personnel swooped down on the residences of over 70 employees of NewsClick, a digital news platform. Of them, around 50 were journalists, whose electronic devices were seized. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was invoked to arrest NewsClick's editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, and its administrative head, Amit Chakraborty, whose polio-stricken legs compel him to walk with crutches.

The charge against NewsClick is that it received around R38 crore from Thoughtworks, a company owned by an American techie Neville Roy Singham, both as direct foreign investment and services rendered, such as making video news clips. But this amount, the government alleged in 2021, is Chinese money, routed through America, for bankrolling NewsClick to carry out Chinese propaganda in India. This allegation acquired a shrill tone after the New York Times claimed, in August, that Singham is close to the Chinese Communist Party.

The following statistics demonstrate how ridiculous is the allegation against NewsClick: 92 out of 105 Chinese companies registered in India had an "active in status" as of March 2021. Is the Modi government sure that all these companies are also not surreptitiously undermining India's interests? ? In June 2020, after the Chinese occupied territory in Ladakh, then Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, now in the BJP, demanded that donations from Chinese firms to the PM-CARES Funds should be returned.

Should these facts be touted to allege that the Modi government has not militarily sought to expel the Chinese from Ladakh because of the monetary stakes involved? Obviously not. This then should also be the answer to the question: Has NewsClick been playing the Chinese game?

After the Enforcement Directorate raided NewsClick in February 2021, two more raids by two other agencies followed. The Delhi High Court restrained the ED from taking "coercive action" against Purkayastha, a Communist. The UAPA case against NewsClick nullified the High Court's protection. Indeed, the hounding of Purkayastha is in sync with late RSS chief M S Golwalkar characterising Muslims, Christians and Communists as the three "internal enemies" of India.

The targeting of NewsClick is reminiscent of fake cases the British would file against the Communists. From 1921 to 1927, five cases, known as the Peshawar Conspiracy Cases, were filed in succession against those striving to establish a Communist party in India. The charge against them was that the Bolshevik USSR had trained them to "deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India…by a violent revolution." Sounds familiar, eh? Sham trials were conducted to convict most of the accused.

After Gandhi called off the non-cooperation in 1922, radical Congress activists were drawn to the Communist ideology. The British cooked up the Kanpur Conspiracy Case to send the accused, including S A Dange and Muzaffar Ahmad, to jail for four years. Then came the Meerut Conspiracy Case, following a successful Railway strike in 1929. Over 25 Leftist trade union leaders were jailed in 1933.

The British government showed no mercy even to the centrist leaders of the largely nonviolent National Struggle. Likewise, the Modi government has jailed leaders of the entire Opposition spectrum, the latest being Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh. By contrast, the ED has not even had a polite conversation with the Adanis on the accusation that they illegally funnelled mind-blowing amounts from abroad. The essence of tyranny lies in allowing some to make hay while the lotus blooms - and punishing others without evidence.

The essence of tyranny is also to wipe out memories, as would likely be the fate of NewsClick employees whose electronic devices have been seized. Their digital memories, personal and professional, are perhaps lost to them forever. This, too, was the British government's style. In December 1921, the police raided Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's residence and press, and took away the manuscript of his English translation of the Quran, with commentary.

When the manuscript was returned, it was, the Maulana wrote, in a "jumbled mass of mere rags."

The National Struggle was about giving tongue to the suppressed soul of India. What we are witnessing today is National Struggle 2.0, a veritable battle to save that soul, for ensuring that India does not became an authoritarian Hindu Rashtra, with competing political visions stamped out. This was why journalists in unprecedented numbers turned up at Delhi's Press Club of India to protest against the crackdown on NewsClick. When I came out of the club, I thought I saw the lions atop the new Parliament in tears!

The writer is a senior journalist.
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