BRITAIN’S National Union of Journalists (NUJ) condemned the recent raids on India’s Newsclick website today, warning of the dire situation of press freedom in India.

The union’s general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the raids by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), which targeted some eight addresses including the editor and owner, were “totally unacceptable.”

Newsclick has been one of the news portals that has given positive coverage of farmers’ protests that have rocked India for the past few months.

Reactionary Hindu chauvinist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to back down over the introduction of three controversial laws he insists are necessary to modernise the country’s agriculture.

But farmers have gathered national support for their protests as they warn that the laws will destroy their livelihoods and increase food poverty as price caps are lifted with the industry opened up to big business.

International support has drawn the ire of the ruling BJP government which has deployed celebrities including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to trash pop star Rihanna and campaigner Greta Thunberg for backing Indian farmers.

Press freedom has been seriously curtailed in India under Mr Modi’s rule. A study by the Free Speech Collective released last month found that 154 journalists were arrested, detained or interrogated between 2010 and 2020 in India, with 40 per cent of these cases reported in 2020 alone.

Scores of journalists have been detained while police in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Haryana states have filed cases of sedition and promoting communal disharmony against six senior reporters and editors. 

Earlier this week, as reported in the Morning Star, the popular Newsclick website was targeted by the Indian authorities in a move branded a blatant attempt to intimidate journalists and stifle freedom of speech.

DIGIPUB, an umbrella organisation of news websites, issued a statement saying that the action aimed to “suppress journalism critical of the government and its allies.

Ms Stanistreet said: “India remains a dangerous nation for media workers with many Indian journalists being targeted and intimidated for reporting on the farmers’ protest. This incident highlights yet again the dire situation of press freedom in India.”