Deja vu: National Struggle 2.0

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 resistanceOn 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 155 per cent of the statersquos population should monopolise resources and representations The caste survey was a strike against the quest of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak SanghBharatiya Janata Party to perpetuate the hierarchical social orderA 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 NewsClickrsquos editorinchief Prabir Purkayastha and its administrative head Amit Chakraborty whose poliostricken legs compel him to walk with crutchesThe 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 PartyThe following statistics demonstrate how ridiculous is the allegation against NewsClick 92 out of 105 Chinese companies registered in India had an ldquoactive in statusrdquo as of March 2021 Is the Modi government sure that all these companies are also not surreptitiously undermining Indiarsquos 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 PMCARES Funds should be returnedShould 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 gameAfter 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 ldquocoercive actionrdquo against Purkayastha a Communist The UAPA case against NewsClick nullified the High Courtrsquos protection Indeed the hounding of Purkayastha is in sync with late RSS chief M S Golwalkar characterising Muslims Christians and Communists as the three ldquointernal enemiesrdquo of IndiaThe 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 ldquodeprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British Indiahellipby a violent revolutionrdquo Sounds familiar eh Sham trials were conducted to convict most of the accusedAfter Gandhi called off the noncooperation 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 1933The 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 mindblowing amounts from abroad The essence of tyranny lies in allowing some to make hay while the lotus bloomsmdashand punishing others without evidenceThe 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 governmentrsquos style In December 1921 the police raided Maulana Abul Kalam Azadrsquos residence and press and took away the manuscript of his English translation of the Quran with commentaryWhen the manuscript was returned it was the Maulana wrote in a ldquojumbled mass of mere ragsrdquoThe National Struggle was about giving tongue to the suppressed soul of India What we are witnessing today is National Struggle 20 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 Delhirsquos 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 tearsThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper