Exporting Censorship

Tactics used to intimidate journalists in India are being replicated abroad

- Shiv Inder Singh

In 2014, the newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on a North American tour, his first visit after the revocation of a nearly-ten-year visa ban. He received an overwhelming welcome from the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden in New York, and largely favourable press coverage in the media. At the time, in Canada, the journalist Gurpreet Singh was preparing to present his radio show in Vancouver. The programme was to feature, among others, someone who was planning to protest Modi’s tour. Singh started receiving express instructions from his colleagues not to have anyone—or any content—critical of the prime minister on air. These, we were to understand, were the wishes of the owner of the radio channel. The pressure was being created through the Indian high commission. Singh went ahead with his plan anyway, and was fired. I was working as an India correspondent for the same radio network at the time. In protest, I handed in my resignation.

Another journalist from Canada, Tejinder Kaur, faced similar circumstances. Kaur had prepared a radio report called “2002 Gujarat Massacre.” The radio-station owner and officials from the Indian high commission raised objections. “I have been targeted because I raised issues of human rights and participated in the protest against Modi’s North American tour,” Kaur told me. “I have also been instructed on what and what not to write on social-media accounts. I was asked to not criticise Modi. I told them clearly that this is my personal medium.” Following this, her organisation told her to take a holiday. “I took a stand: either I do the show, or else I resign,” she said. “Ultimately, I had to leave the radio.”