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Mar 26 • 18 tweets • 16 min read
"Hold your tongue, I have your entire janampatri," Prime Minister @narendramodi had warned the Congress in a 2017 election rally, using a Hindi word that refers to both a person's horoscope and to his past. | P. Raman
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi Modi's blunt threat came during the assembly elections in February 2017, months before his Israel visit which reportedly led to India acquiring the spyware Pegasus.
#Pegasus
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi Modi gave top priority to setting up an effective surveillance system to tire out his political rivals. The word 'janampatri' is an accurate euphemism for this system.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi No other prime minister in India has ever maintained such an elaborate machinery with dossiers ready to strike at any political adversary at short notice.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi Since 2014, agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), income tax department, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have substantially strengthened their political wings.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi Trusted men with proven political loyalty are placed at crucial positions in all these agencies.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi When they do not act as desired, they can be peremptorily (and illegally) removed, as Alok Verma discovered when he was ousted from the CBI in a 'midnight coup' in 2018.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi In 2016, the Modi regime brought Gujarat cadre police officer Rakesh Asthana as additional director of the CBI. He had investigated several politically sensitive cases in Gujarat, including the Ahmedabad bomb blasts.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi Prime Minister Modi has the distinction of having conducted a record number of raids and launched prosecutions against the opposition politicians.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi The Modi establishment has every reason to be furious about the outspoken Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister @nawabmalikncp. He came into national limelight when he countered the NCB version of the allegations against Aryan Khan.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp The Modi regime has also been adept at using midnight knock to induce defection.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp Look at the case of Assam chief minister @himantabiswa who was alleged to have been involved in the Saradha scam. After his defection to the BJP, the case against him was promptly buried.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa Last month, Shiv Sena spokesman @rautsanjay61 revealed he was offered attractive lures for quitting the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and forming an alternative BJP coalition.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa @rautsanjay61 Sanjay Raut raised another pertinent question: When opposition leaders were being persecuted in large numbers, why was no BJP leader raided?
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa @rautsanjay61 At least two mid-level BJP leaders – @PatilSanjaykaka and @Harshvardhanji – had the courage to utter the widely held but never admitted political truth of the time.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa @rautsanjay61 @PatilSanjaykaka @Harshvardhanji "The Enforcement Directorate will not touch me," Sanjaykaka Patil boasted at a recent function. "Because I am a BJP MP."
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa @rautsanjay61 @PatilSanjaykaka @Harshvardhanji BJP leader @SuvenduWB went to the extent of threatening party rebels with raids if they defected to the TMC. He did so right on the floor of the House. The speaker has referred a privilege motion to the privilege committee.
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…
@narendramodi @nawabmalikncp @himantabiswa @rautsanjay61 @PatilSanjaykaka @Harshvardhanji @SuvenduWB Read P. Raman's full report here:
thewire.in/law/modis-raid…

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More from @thewire_in

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Mar 25
The expert committee appointed by SC to probe the alleged use of Pegasus spyware against journalists, opposition politicians, judges and others, has sought comments from the public on 11 queries pertaining to the issue until March 31.
#Pegasus
thewire.in/law/sc-appoint…
The committee, led by former Supreme Court Justice R.V. Raveendran, was set up on October 27 last year.
thewire.in/law/sc-appoint…
The committee drafted a form with 11 queries to the public, seeking their suggestions for ways to strengthen cyber security, setting up a grievance redressal mechanism for a person subjected to state surveillance and so on.
thewire.in/law/sc-appoint…
Read 4 tweets
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Mar 25
"Foreign minister Wang Yi and I have been in touch even though we have not visited each other's countries. We have had telephonic conversations between this period," said external affairs minister @DrSJaishankar. | @DevirupaM
@DrSJaishankar @DevirupaM "The focus of the interactions had been the situation at the border. Our meeting had led to an understanding on de-escalation and disengagement. Challenge was to execute it on the ground."
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Mar 25
The govt of Uttar Pradesh recently published an advertisement in prominent newspapers in which it said it was looking to "engage a consultant to boost the size of the economy of Uttar Pradesh to $1 trillion in five years (2022-2027)". | Ganga N. Rath
thewire.in/government/up-…
A function which so far has been the preserve of the government officials and economists working in planning and other departments is likely to be outsourced to external agencies.
thewire.in/government/up-…
Is the Uttar Pradesh government's attempt to outsource economic planning an expression of 'no-confidence' in its bureaucracy, planners, economists, ministers and chief minister, or is it a (modest) administrative-bureaucratic breakdown?
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Mar 24
Twenty eight senior journalists issued a statement on Wednesday appealing to all Indian constitutional bodies to "uphold their constitutional mandate" and take action against the increasingly frequent attacks against Muslims in the country.
thewire.in/communalism/si…
The appeal, titled, 'In the Face of Orchestrated Hatred, Silence Is Not an Option', begins by highlighting that the country, in recent years, has seen a "concerted amplification of hatred" as well as an "attendant advocacy of violence".
thewire.in/communalism/si…
The signatories are prominent journalists and include @thewire_in's three founding editors – @svaradarajan, @bombaywallah and @mkvenu1.
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The Wire Profile picture
Mar 21
The expression "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is well-known. But how many people understand it? | @darab_farooqui
#TheKashmirFiles
thewire.in/film/the-kashm…
@darab_farooqui In this regard, #TheKashmirFiles falls short. Actually, it manipulates the truth, cherry-picks the truth, and exploits the truth emotionally. As a result, the film eventually devolves into a piece of pure vitriol and hatred.
thewire.in/film/the-kashm…
@darab_farooqui I believe this is propaganda rather than a genuine work of art or workmanship. Propaganda, by definition, is the spread of information – facts, arguments, speculations, half-truths, or outright lies – in order to sway public opinion.
thewire.in/film/the-kashm…
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The Wire Profile picture
Mar 21
Sometimes propaganda can feel like first love. It can be empowering; it can be addictive. | @Plebeian42
#TheKashmirFiles
thewire.in/film/as-a-film…
@Plebeian42 But unlike first love, propaganda happens again – and again and again.
thewire.in/film/as-a-film…
@Plebeian42 But if at all – in the country of Godi media, WhatsApp disinformation, and know-it-all uncles – you want some more propaganda, then head to the nearest theatre for #TheKashmirFiles.
thewire.in/film/as-a-film…
Read 15 tweets

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