The person that got arrested is New Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, Manish Sisodia. He belongs to Arvind Kejriwal led "Aam Aadmi Party".
Manish Sisodia is the man behind Education Revolution in the capital of India. He transformed the public schools in New Delhi with an aim to provide quality education to children from less privileged families. His work has seen praise all of the world and his policies has been a part of various studies. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
He was not arrested for his work as education minister or as a deputy chief minister. He also holds an Excise portfolio and the central government thinks there were irregularities there and that is why he was arrested. That is why he was arrested. CBI justified its actions on why he was arrested [1]
Delhi state is a union territory. The central government normally controls them and Delhi is not much different just because they have a legislative assembly (in this case AAP government). Cetral government can (in this case did) scrutinize what their ministers in the union territories were actually doing. Let the minister come out clean in the court.
Process is the punishment in India. They can arrest you based on allegations, keep you in jail for months without even filing a charge sheet and no one is liable when a court finally acquits you after months or years of jail time.
In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
If an alleged scam of 100 Crore rupees is really a reason of arrest then why Adani is not arrested yet with an alleged scam and money laundering of thousands of crore rupees?
140 Cases Filed Against different AAP MLAs and Members, 72 Disposed of, Just 1 Conviction So Far [1]
Another example where they arrested a journalist. The journalist stayed in jail for 28 months before a court granted him bail. [2]
> Process is the punishment in India. They can arrest you based on allegations, keep you in jail for months without even filing a charge sheet and no one is liable when a court finally acquits you after months or years of jail time.
> In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
What is your yardstick for a functioning democracy?
> If an alleged scam of 100 Crore rupees is really a reason of arrest then why Adani is not arrested yet with an alleged scam and money laundering of thousands of crore rupees?
Who says there was such a scam? The Hindenburg group did say, but they are a short seller who allegedly benefited from falling prices of Adani's stocks. And their word is not a valid authority in Indian law to book a case against anyone.
>> What is your yardstick for a functioning democracy?
In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
>> Who says there was such a scam? The Hindenburg group did say, but they are a short seller who allegedly benefited from falling prices of Adani's stocks. And their word is not a valid authority in Indian law to book a case against anyone.
Exactly! Who says Manish Sisodia did a scam? The BJP government did say, but they are a ruling party who will benefit from keeping their opponents in jail/courts.
Absolutely. I am saying you are picking and choosing as per your convenience. People get arrested all the time, just because it was a minister it made headlines. I only wish people rotting in jail (in all countires) with no charges against them had a voice, just like AAP government
> In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
I wanted to know from you what country is a good example of a functioning democracy. Not what is your idea of a functioning democracy.
> Exactly! Who says Manish Sisodia did a scam? The BJP government did say, but they are a ruling party who will benefit from keeping their opponents in jail/courts.
CBI did. They are a law enforcing authority in India and they decided that arrest is the correct course of action in this case.
>> Absolutely. I am saying you are picking and choosing as per your convenience. People get arrested all the time, just because it was a minister it made headlines. I only wish people rotting in jail (in all countires) with no charges against them had a voice, just like AAP government
Thats why I am here trying to be the voice for someone that got arrested.
>> I wanted to know from you what country is a good example of a functioning democracy. Not what is your idea of a functioning democracy.
Honestly, I don't know which country is perfect. But I think United states is bit better as we discussed in other comments.
>> CBI did. They are a law enforcing authority in India and they decided that arrest is the correct course of action in this case.
CBI is directly controlled by BJP Centre Government. Anyone who thinks CBI is independent must be living under a rock. Here is an old statement from Modi about it when he was not a PM: [1]
State government agencies are controlled by the state and central agencies are controlled by the centre. Just because they turned a blind eye for so long doesn't mean they shouldn't now.
Yes, so it's a central government (BJP) agency arresting a state government (AAP) leader.
Not sure what do you mean by "they turned a blind eye", but:
>> 140 Cases Filed Against AAP MLAs and Members, 72 Disposed of, Just 1 Conviction So Far
>> Of the 140 cases against the party analyzed by News18.com, only one has resulted in conviction while 72 have ended in acquittals, discharges or settlements. Of the remaining, 39 are pending and the rest have either been stayed, or are cases where the charge-sheet has not been filed yet.
This is incorrect, the guy who got arrested is the Deputy Chief Minister of New Delhi, and belongs to a political party. He is no way an opposition leader. Considering this post has been made from a throwaway account, with a comment that has too much references, I assume the intent is not the greatest one here.
This is a bizzare take. AAP is an opposition party at the centre. Sisodiya is a senior leader of AAP. It makes perfect sense to refer to him as an opposition leader.
Equally bizarre is OPs submission history. To be considered an opposition party, it should be the second largest party in number of seats in either of the houses. Also, to get formally recognized, it should at least have 10% of house strength. AAP does not meets any of those criterion, hence it does not qualifies as an opposition party, and the guy who got arrested as an opposition leader.
First, he is not the "Indian opposition leader", he belongs to a regional party where in he is part of the opposing political party. India, currently does not have an opposition leader by definition. The same opposition leader and other leaders of the regional AAP party has been involved into a lot of misgivings as well, which are not pointed out in your references, some of them proven, some not. Political hitjobs by the ruling party? Maybe. Impeding investigation or attempt to gain mass public support by making last minute highly publicized visits or statements? Maybe.
There is a strong bias in your previous posts and your submissions against the ruling party in India, which has been time and again questioned/ pointed out in your previous submissions. Not that there is anything wrong about it, but again HN may not be the place for political and potentially controversial discussions which can devolve into a flame war.
HN only allows limited number of characters in title, so "Indian opposition leader" is the only best word I could come up with. I have added more information in my top comment right after creating the post.
My posts are about democracy in one of the largest countries of the world. I feel democracy is one of the top area of interest to fellow hackers.
Lastly, AAP is not a regional party. In December 2022, after Gujarat Legislative election, Aam Aadmi Party has fulfilled the criteria for being the 9th national party of India. It is in the middle of the process of getting the official recognition as the National Party by Election commission of India.[1][2]
> To be considered an opposition party, it should be the second largest party in number of seats in either of the houses.
Every party that isn't in government is by definition an opposition party. You're mixing up the criteria for recognition of the LoP of a house with what an opposition party is.
Nit pick. Don't confuse between 'leader of one of the opposition parties' and 'Leader of Opposition[1]' which is an official title. Sisodia is not part of Parliament of India (let alone LoP) so the official title doesn't apply to him. He was/is(?) the excise minister of Delhi state when the 'supposed-liquor-scam' took place, hence the arrest. No idea if the allegations are legit; there are 28 states in India and one of 28 Excise minster is arrested.
Absolutely. Indeed, Manish Sisodia is a 'leader of one of the opposition parties'. But HN does not allow too many characters in the post title hence I tried to add more information in a comment under my post. :)
HN has title length limit so it does not allow adding 'leader of one of the opposition parties' to the title.
Also, Manish Sisodia is Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, part of AAP, which is a national party of India so I don't think its wrong to use "an opposition leader" for him.
I never said "leader of opposition", I said "opposition leader".
Manish Sisodia is Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, part of AAP, which is a national party of India. AAP's candidate got highest number of votes agains Modi in Varanasi election, so I think "opposition leader" term can definitely be used for Manish Sisodia.
And I don't think they have arrested him for alleged Liquor scam. If they start arresting people for alleged scams then Adani and several others are much ahead in line.
Manish got arrested by BJP Centre Government. Last time I checked, Manish is clearly an opposition to BJP Centre Government even if he is in power in a state/territory. So the title is correct imho.
Opposition leader means that a leader who sits in the opposition. Sisodia is part of Delhi state government so he can't be an opposition leader in Delhi state assembly. He also can't be an opposition leader in the Centre since he is not a parliamentarian.
I clearly mentioned this in my existing comment. But let me share more details here:
* Manish Sisodia is the member of Aam Aadmi Party which is currently ruling New Delhi (Capital of India)
* Modi's BJP party is ruling party at the centre
* Aam Aadmi Party has defeated BJP twice in New Delhi state election
* The Delhi Police/CBI is under control of Modi/BJP government
* CBI has made the arrest so I see it as CBI arresting a leader from a party that is opposition to BJP centre government
Responding to your other concerns: I don't know what's wrong in making a political post by using a throwaway account & backing your claims with references.
India is completely balkanizing right now and the rest of the world is ignoring it.
The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
In Punjab the Sikh separatists are beginning to make moves.
In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi. The same is happening in West Bengal.
The 1980s and 1990s saw the assassinations of the sitting Prime Minister of India, the sitting Chief Minister of Punjab, the just-retired Army Chief and the former Prime Minister with simultaneous deadly insurgencies in multiple states with a death toll exceeding 100,000.
If the country didn't split up then, there is virtually no chance of that happening today.
> The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
Nothing out of the ordinary for central and state governments in India. The current Home Minister was arrested, and the current Prime Minister was subjected to a grueling investigation, by the previous government. State governments routinely arrest local opposition politicians and journalists for various reasons.
> In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi.
The nativist movement in Tamil Nadu has nothing to do with Hindi. And it is no where as strong as it was 50 years back.
Even in Ladakh protests are happening which are getting completely ignored by mainstream media. India with it's crazy diversity might be better off having a structure similar to the EU rather than one country with a strong central power. Modern day India is quite an unnatural union. Like if all of Africa was one country it would have been such a mess. India is like that just more crowded in less land.
How do you explain the fact that the current central government got more parliamentary seats and vote share than the previous election? I think we have quite a healthy democracy. There are always voices that pick only the rough edges but democracy is a tool for continuous improvement, whether the current government supports it or not (data says it does, at least for now).
"The Nazi Party’s meteoric rise to power began in 1930, when it attained 107 seats in Germany’s parliament, the Reichstag. In July 1932, the Nazi Party became the largest political party in the Reichstag with 230 representatives"
Sounds very similar, but above is from Holocaust encyclopedia. [1]
Yes, history has shown that it can go that way. We all have to stay alert and raise an alarm when a democratically elected government starts trying to manipulate four pillars of Democracy: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Press.
Do you disagree if I say that the United States is one of the best functioning democracies (may not be perfect )? They have elected the same president consecutively. There may be many others as well, and nobody became Nazi.
I agree with you that United States is much better functioning democracy. I think this is because they have much better checks & balances than India. Their legal, press and judiciary structure is also different than India.
Just one example here:
President Obama has done 163 press conferences in 8 years, and all the data is public for everyone to see. [1]
While PM Modi in the same amount of time did 1 (?) press conference. And has never answered any question even in that one. There is no data available on press conferences as a reply to RTI. [2] [3] [4]
Press is one important pillar of democracy. Where is democracy if you are not answering to people and only playing one sided scripted monologue.
I don't get it, are you trying to measure the performance of the current indian government by the number of press conferences held? Governments operate in completely different ways. What you read in papers is from the political parties.
IMHO, you are the one who started comparing India Democracy with United States.
Also, I can ignore the papers for a moment. Can you tell me how many unscripted press conferences PM Modi did in last 8 years? Please don't count 1-1 interviews to Movie stars, or 1-1 scripted meetings in closed tv studios. I am asking for any public press conferenced where he is taking questions from 5-6 journalists form different organizations. The one hour radio monolog also does not count as a press conference.
To know why open press conferences are important for a democracy, you can read more here:
The government talks through its official channels, such as cabinet ministers, spokespersons and secretaries, and also Prime minister. What makes you think the Foreign/Finance/Defence/Home ministry statement is any less than a statement from PM himself?
Yes, there should be channels and delegation. But PM is also answerable to people and should appear to take questions from press. Giving a statement is not same as answering open questions from press.
United States also have different official channels and they all do their thing on their level. But that does not mean that PM/President gets a free run.
> Yes, there should be channels and delegation. But PM is also answerable to people and should appear to take questions from press. Giving a statement is not same as answering open questions from press.
People have voted and they are okay with his decisions. He got more votes than his previous elections
> United States also have different official channels and they all do their thing on their level. But that does not mean that PM/President gets a free run.
Who decides that? Only elections can. Let's see what happens in the next general elections
> "With great power comes great responsibility"
Yes, CBI had to take some unpopular decisions. But they did
>> People have voted and they are okay with his decisions. He got more votes than his previous elections
>> Who decides that? Only elections can. Let's see what happens in the next general elections
Seems like we have went full circle. So I am pasting my comment again.
"The Nazi Party’s meteoric rise to power began in 1930, when it attained 107 seats in Germany’s parliament, the Reichstag. In July 1932, the Nazi Party became the largest political party in the Reichstag with 230 representatives"
Sounds very similar, but above is from Holocaust encyclopedia. [1]
>> Yes, CBI had to take some unpopular decisions. But they did
> India is completely balkanizing right now and the rest of the world is ignoring it.
Ok
> The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
Hmm
> In Punjab the Sikh separatists are beginning to make moves.
AAP government is releasing Amritpal (separatist guy) without any charges, whose supporters attacked Punjab police [1] in yesterday's news. I am not saying AAP was trying to bargain with centre but there is a hint of connection.
> In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi. The same is happening in West Bengal.
I am in the south and nothing much is happening about 'separatism' here. parties are/were/will be anti hindi but it is business as usual. It definitely isn't a BJP stronghold (except, may be, Karnataka) and that is the card regional parties use to get attention.
Why is that so surprising? Pavan Khera broke the law of the land (by making unacceptable comments). He is a spokesperson of the National party (main opposition) and he should know better. Just because you think something is laughable from where you are sitting is not so laughable anywhere else (ask Pavan). Look what happened to Carlos Ghosn
>> Nobody is a king including the pm. it is about the land of the law.
Its may also be called "Selective enforcement".
>> did someone file a case? can you share a reference if there is one?
I wonder if there is any policeman brave enough who will register a FIR against the PM. This is what happened with Rahul Gandhi asked questions in parliament about relations of PM Modi and Adani. Isn't opposition's job to ask questions and Government's job to provide answers in a democracy?:
>> Rahul's allegations against the PM regarding industrialist Gautam Adani were expunged from the Lok Sabha records on Tuesday. As the House assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi urged the Speaker to look into the privilege notice. "Rahul Gandhi's baseless remarks should be expunged and action should be taken against him," he said. [1]
This is another sad story of a police officer who "took on Modi". A police officer got suspended and now sentenced to life for an old case after he went against Modi:
>> The Gujarat government had originally appealed the court to drop charges against Bhatt and other policemen in the 1990 custodial death case. However, after Bhatt's affidavit against Modi, the Government withdrew its application, and the court initiated criminal proceedings against the policemen. [2]
Case was filed under section 153A/153B(1)/500/504/505(1)(b) and 505(2). [1]
Look at the meaning of each section below and you can see how they can add all random sections into the police report to arrest you.
- 153A
Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. [2]
- 153B(1)
Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration. [2]
- 500
Punishment for defamation [2]
- 504
Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace. [2]
- 505(1)(b) and 505(2)
Statements conducing to public mischief. [2]
> Second Exception.—Public conduct of public servants.—It is not defamation to express in a good faith any opinion whatever respecting the conduct of a public servant in the discharge of his public functions, or respecting his character, so far as his character appears in that conduct, and no further.
You can't criminalise politicians calling each other names and still claim to be a democracy.
hahaha, in India, no one can become a politician without getting arrested. In fact, Indian police makes money by 'false' arrests in resolving civil disputes.
Go to Andhra Pradesh, cronies of politicians are filing private cases against CBI officers with the aid of the AP police. This is with respect to the investigation of the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy, brother of ex-CM YSR, and an uncle of the current CM of AP. It tells us how weak is CBI is. Every one knows that the current CM of AP is involved in killing his uncle.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 120 ms ] threadManish Sisodia is the man behind Education Revolution in the capital of India. He transformed the public schools in New Delhi with an aim to provide quality education to children from less privileged families. His work has seen praise all of the world and his policies has been a part of various studies. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
[1] https://www.educationnext.org/inside-the-delhi-education-rev... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/world/asia/india-delhi-sc... [3] https://www.brookings.edu/research/state-led-education-refor... [4] https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/58944 [5] https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-education-s...
[1] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sisodia-arrested-b...
In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
If an alleged scam of 100 Crore rupees is really a reason of arrest then why Adani is not arrested yet with an alleged scam and money laundering of thousands of crore rupees?
140 Cases Filed Against different AAP MLAs and Members, 72 Disposed of, Just 1 Conviction So Far [1]
Another example where they arrested a journalist. The journalist stayed in jail for 28 months before a court granted him bail. [2]
[1] https://www.news18.com/news/india/140-cases-filed-against-aa...
[2] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/846-days-timeline-of-s...
Not different than many different than many other democracies, lots of suspects held in custody without conviction: https://www.americasquarterly.org/fulltextarticle/prisons-in...
> In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
What is your yardstick for a functioning democracy?
> If an alleged scam of 100 Crore rupees is really a reason of arrest then why Adani is not arrested yet with an alleged scam and money laundering of thousands of crore rupees?
Who says there was such a scam? The Hindenburg group did say, but they are a short seller who allegedly benefited from falling prices of Adani's stocks. And their word is not a valid authority in Indian law to book a case against anyone.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
>> What is your yardstick for a functioning democracy?
In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
>> Who says there was such a scam? The Hindenburg group did say, but they are a short seller who allegedly benefited from falling prices of Adani's stocks. And their word is not a valid authority in Indian law to book a case against anyone.
Exactly! Who says Manish Sisodia did a scam? The BJP government did say, but they are a ruling party who will benefit from keeping their opponents in jail/courts.
Absolutely. I am saying you are picking and choosing as per your convenience. People get arrested all the time, just because it was a minister it made headlines. I only wish people rotting in jail (in all countires) with no charges against them had a voice, just like AAP government
> In any functioning democracy, government should not be able to arrest members of their opposition parties or journalists just based on allegations.
I wanted to know from you what country is a good example of a functioning democracy. Not what is your idea of a functioning democracy.
> Exactly! Who says Manish Sisodia did a scam? The BJP government did say, but they are a ruling party who will benefit from keeping their opponents in jail/courts.
CBI did. They are a law enforcing authority in India and they decided that arrest is the correct course of action in this case.
Thats why I am here trying to be the voice for someone that got arrested.
>> I wanted to know from you what country is a good example of a functioning democracy. Not what is your idea of a functioning democracy.
Honestly, I don't know which country is perfect. But I think United states is bit better as we discussed in other comments.
>> CBI did. They are a law enforcing authority in India and they decided that arrest is the correct course of action in this case.
CBI is directly controlled by BJP Centre Government. Anyone who thinks CBI is independent must be living under a rock. Here is an old statement from Modi about it when he was not a PM: [1]
[1] https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/349075193714577408
Not sure what do you mean by "they turned a blind eye", but:
>> 140 Cases Filed Against AAP MLAs and Members, 72 Disposed of, Just 1 Conviction So Far
>> Of the 140 cases against the party analyzed by News18.com, only one has resulted in conviction while 72 have ended in acquittals, discharges or settlements. Of the remaining, 39 are pending and the rest have either been stayed, or are cases where the charge-sheet has not been filed yet.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/140-cases-filed-against-aa...
There is a strong bias in your previous posts and your submissions against the ruling party in India, which has been time and again questioned/ pointed out in your previous submissions. Not that there is anything wrong about it, but again HN may not be the place for political and potentially controversial discussions which can devolve into a flame war.
edit : fixed verbiage.
My posts are about democracy in one of the largest countries of the world. I feel democracy is one of the top area of interest to fellow hackers.
Lastly, AAP is not a regional party. In December 2022, after Gujarat Legislative election, Aam Aadmi Party has fulfilled the criteria for being the 9th national party of India. It is in the middle of the process of getting the official recognition as the National Party by Election commission of India.[1][2]
[1] https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/aap-becomes-indias-9th-...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_I...
Every party that isn't in government is by definition an opposition party. You're mixing up the criteria for recognition of the LoP of a house with what an opposition party is.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Opposition_(In...
Also, Manish Sisodia is Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, part of AAP, which is a national party of India so I don't think its wrong to use "an opposition leader" for him.
Manish Sisodia is Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, part of AAP, which is a national party of India. AAP's candidate got highest number of votes agains Modi in Varanasi election, so I think "opposition leader" term can definitely be used for Manish Sisodia.
And I don't think they have arrested him for alleged Liquor scam. If they start arresting people for alleged scams then Adani and several others are much ahead in line.
He is in the government, not in opposition. Correct the title
* Manish Sisodia is the member of Aam Aadmi Party which is currently ruling New Delhi (Capital of India)
* Modi's BJP party is ruling party at the centre
* Aam Aadmi Party has defeated BJP twice in New Delhi state election
* The Delhi Police/CBI is under control of Modi/BJP government
* CBI has made the arrest so I see it as CBI arresting a leader from a party that is opposition to BJP centre government
Responding to your other concerns: I don't know what's wrong in making a political post by using a throwaway account & backing your claims with references.
The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
In Punjab the Sikh separatists are beginning to make moves.
In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi. The same is happening in West Bengal.
The 1980s and 1990s saw the assassinations of the sitting Prime Minister of India, the sitting Chief Minister of Punjab, the just-retired Army Chief and the former Prime Minister with simultaneous deadly insurgencies in multiple states with a death toll exceeding 100,000.
If the country didn't split up then, there is virtually no chance of that happening today.
> The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
Nothing out of the ordinary for central and state governments in India. The current Home Minister was arrested, and the current Prime Minister was subjected to a grueling investigation, by the previous government. State governments routinely arrest local opposition politicians and journalists for various reasons.
> In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi.
The nativist movement in Tamil Nadu has nothing to do with Hindi. And it is no where as strong as it was 50 years back.
Sounds very similar, but above is from Holocaust encyclopedia. [1]
[1] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-r...
Just one example here:
President Obama has done 163 press conferences in 8 years, and all the data is public for everyone to see. [1]
While PM Modi in the same amount of time did 1 (?) press conference. And has never answered any question even in that one. There is no data available on press conferences as a reply to RTI. [2] [3] [4]
Press is one important pillar of democracy. Where is democracy if you are not answering to people and only playing one sided scripted monologue.
[1] https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/presidential...
[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-modi/at-his-f...
[3] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rti-pmo-pm-narendra-mo...
[4] https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/why-hasnt-pm-mod...
Also, I can ignore the papers for a moment. Can you tell me how many unscripted press conferences PM Modi did in last 8 years? Please don't count 1-1 interviews to Movie stars, or 1-1 scripted meetings in closed tv studios. I am asking for any public press conferenced where he is taking questions from 5-6 journalists form different organizations. The one hour radio monolog also does not count as a press conference.
To know why open press conferences are important for a democracy, you can read more here:
https://www.principlesofdemocracy.org/government-dem
United States also have different official channels and they all do their thing on their level. But that does not mean that PM/President gets a free run.
"With great power comes great responsibility"
People have voted and they are okay with his decisions. He got more votes than his previous elections
> United States also have different official channels and they all do their thing on their level. But that does not mean that PM/President gets a free run.
Who decides that? Only elections can. Let's see what happens in the next general elections
> "With great power comes great responsibility"
Yes, CBI had to take some unpopular decisions. But they did
>> Who decides that? Only elections can. Let's see what happens in the next general elections
Seems like we have went full circle. So I am pasting my comment again.
"The Nazi Party’s meteoric rise to power began in 1930, when it attained 107 seats in Germany’s parliament, the Reichstag. In July 1932, the Nazi Party became the largest political party in the Reichstag with 230 representatives" Sounds very similar, but above is from Holocaust encyclopedia. [1]
>> Yes, CBI had to take some unpopular decisions. But they did
CBI is BJP and BJP is CBI. [2]
[1] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-r...
[2] https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/349075193714577408
Ok
> The central government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and arresting opposition politicians.
Hmm
> In Punjab the Sikh separatists are beginning to make moves.
AAP government is releasing Amritpal (separatist guy) without any charges, whose supporters attacked Punjab police [1] in yesterday's news. I am not saying AAP was trying to bargain with centre but there is a hint of connection.
> In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments with many feeling the central government is forcing them to learn Hindi. The same is happening in West Bengal.
I am in the south and nothing much is happening about 'separatism' here. parties are/were/will be anti hindi but it is business as usual. It definitely isn't a BJP stronghold (except, may be, Karnataka) and that is the card regional parties use to get attention.
[1] https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/feb/25/punjab-c...
I don't think it means what you think it means.
> Sikh separatists
Khalistanis live in Canada, not Punjab.
> In South India there is also increasing separatist sentiments
I've lived in South India all my life and have never seen anyone express such sentiments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/23/pawan-khera-...
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/delhi-court-acquits-aap...
Who has used these words on record for opposition leaders: 'Jersey Cow', 'Congress ki Vidhwa', 'Maunmohan', '50 Crore girlfriend'?
Nobody is a king including the pm. it is about the land of the law.
> Who has used these words on record for opposition leaders: 'Jersey Cow', 'Congress ki Vidhwa', 'Maunmohan', '50 Crore girlfriend'?
did someone file a case? can you share a reference if there is one?
Its may also be called "Selective enforcement".
>> did someone file a case? can you share a reference if there is one?
I wonder if there is any policeman brave enough who will register a FIR against the PM. This is what happened with Rahul Gandhi asked questions in parliament about relations of PM Modi and Adani. Isn't opposition's job to ask questions and Government's job to provide answers in a democracy?:
>> Rahul's allegations against the PM regarding industrialist Gautam Adani were expunged from the Lok Sabha records on Tuesday. As the House assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi urged the Speaker to look into the privilege notice. "Rahul Gandhi's baseless remarks should be expunged and action should be taken against him," he said. [1]
This is another sad story of a police officer who "took on Modi". A police officer got suspended and now sentenced to life for an old case after he went against Modi:
>> The Gujarat government had originally appealed the court to drop charges against Bhatt and other policemen in the 1990 custodial death case. However, after Bhatt's affidavit against Modi, the Government withdrew its application, and the court initiated criminal proceedings against the policemen. [2]
[1] https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/remarks-on-pm-modi-...
[2] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/the-man-who-took-on-mo...
Which law?
Look at the meaning of each section below and you can see how they can add all random sections into the police report to arrest you.
- 153A Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. [2]
- 153B(1) Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration. [2]
- 500 Punishment for defamation [2]
- 504 Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace. [2]
- 505(1)(b) and 505(2) Statements conducing to public mischief. [2]
[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio...
[2] https://indiankanoon.org/
> Second Exception.—Public conduct of public servants.—It is not defamation to express in a good faith any opinion whatever respecting the conduct of a public servant in the discharge of his public functions, or respecting his character, so far as his character appears in that conduct, and no further.
You can't criminalise politicians calling each other names and still claim to be a democracy.