BJP defends action as opposition criticizes government over police raid on journalists

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) criticized the BJP administration after detectives from the Delhi Police on Tuesday searched multiple sites, including the homes of NewsClick journalists who were being investigated for allegedly receiving funding from China. The opposition coalition said that only those media outlets and writers who criticize the governing regime are consistently the targets of the ruling regime’s “coercive” tactics.

However, the BJP supported the police intervention.

The BJP government’s most recent assault on the media is vehemently condemned by the INDIA parties. Regarding searches conducted by the Delhi Police’s special cell, the opposition group said, “We staunchly stand with the media and for the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression.

In a statement criticizing the administration, the INDIA bloc claimed: “The BJP government’s coercive methods are generally targeted primarily against those media outlets and journalists who speak truth to power. Ironically, the BJP administration is unable to take action against those media who sow division and hate inside the country.

The INDIA statement continued, “It would behove the BJP administration to concentrate on serious causes of concern to the country and the people and avoid assaulting the media to divert attention from its failings. The BJP administration has purposefully persecuted and repressed the media over the last nine years by using investigative agencies to target outlets like the BBC, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar, Kashmir Walla, Wire, and most recently the NewsClick journalists.

While speaking to media in Odisha, Union I&B Minister Anurag Thakur stated, “I don’t have detailed information (about the searches carried out by the police).” If the investigating agency has acted in any way, it has mostly done so on the basis of evidence.

Opposition party leaders attacked the administration on X earlier in the day about the issue.

Sashi Tharoor, a leading member of the Congress, expressed his shock at the arrest of numerous journalists and the searches on 30 journalists in Delhi. These are the behaviors of an unstable and dictatorial regime, not of the “mother of democracy.”

In an apparent dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and MP Sanjay Singh posted: “China took our country. Modi Ji has the guts to criticize China in any way, shape, or form. By detaining these journalists, they are appearing to be fighting China. If you have the guts, halt all business with China.