“There’s no room for discrimination on basis of religion, caste, gender! Because India is a democracy and democracy is in our DNA. And democracies don’t discriminate”. Modi employs meaningless platitudes, circular logic to conjure make-believe world with no resemblance to reality Modi’s tall claims would fall apart under simple follow-up questioning, which is of course why he and his handlers are careful not to allow any such eventuality.

I promised we had a huge folo to our Meta-BJP story yesterday, so here goes!

@jahnavi_sen and I bring you new and exciting details of Meta’s damaging damage control exercise

thewire.in/tech/meta-xche… Meta first claimed the Instagram report The Wire published was fabricated. When we ran Andy Stone's email to disprove that, they claim the email is fabricated!

The Wire stands by both stories—which are based on information from sources we know and trust within Meta. 1/

The SC wrongly sought ‘abuse of process’ action against @TeestaSetalvad, Mrs Jafri for trying to prosecute Modi.

What @DelhiPolice, @Uppolice, @SudarshanNewsTV, @dir_ed, SG Tushar Mehta/ASG Raju are doing to send @zoo_bear to jail surely fits the charge.

m.thewire.in/article/media/… There is clearly a criminal conspiracy to maliciously prosecute @zoo_bear involving top echelons of the Union and UP governments, who are the only ones capable of setting the institutional machinery in motion to file and pursue as many as 4 bogus cases in three cities.

Weird, irresponsible and dangerous statement by AAP leaders, dragging the already vulnerable Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into this equation.

https://twitter.com/aamaadmiparty/status/1516694036106850308

This is the sad reality of the Rohingya refugees: they have been targets of violence at home and, apparently, in India too:

m.thewire.in/article/rights…

Why would the @AamAadmiParty and it’s leaders paint a larger target on the backs of a people already vulnerable to Hindutva hate?

I’m not easily given to pessimism! Today, a young Indian couple met me in Perugia, Italy, where I am for a journalism conference—#IJF22. They are readers of @thewire_in, recognised me and wanted to talk. Husband is Hindu, wife is Muslim. She is studying abroad, he is with her. 1/ How bad are things at home, they asked. Picture is gloomy, I said. This morning I had woken up to discover Haldiram was trending because a communal TV anchor, patronised by BJP, had discovered an ‘anti-Hindu plot’ in the Arabic ingredients label (which he thought was Urdu). 2/

Blocking @Aakar__Patel from going abroad makes it clear the Modi government is leaving no stone unturned to harass its critics and is willing to resort to the cheapest of tactics

m.thewire.in/article/rights… via @thewire_in SC—which gave Maneka Gandhi judgment—should take strict view of this.

If someone (eg. Aakar) is stopped due to lookout circular & if LOC is issued without (a) proof of summons served, (b) affidavit by officer+boss that summons was ignored, then both officers must be prosecuted.

Pt Debu Chaudhuri, last of the pre-'47 sitar maestros: Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Bimal Mukherjee, Ravi Shankar, Abdul Haleem Jaafer Khan, Rais Khan, Imrat Khan, Annapurna Devi & now Debu-da. All gone.

Will add links in this thread to his music.

thewire.in/the-arts/sitar… The baton is being ably carried by the generation of great sitarists—Buddhaditya Mukherjee, Satish Chandra, Shujaat Khan, Shahid Parvez, Nishat Khan—and younger players Shubhendra Rao, Prateek Chaudhuri, Niladri Kumar, Anoushka Shankar, Purbayan Chatterjee, Shakir Khan etc.

AAP supporters insist on being obtuse on J&K so let me spell things out clearly. Art 370 and statehood were both snuffed out by one Bill, which AAP backed in Parliament. Kejriwal tweet also welcomed govt’s “decisions” on J&K. Note plural, “decisions” and not “decision” (370 only) Both decisions rested on a legal fiction that the Governor/LG represents the state government/legislature when there is Central rule, and so if he consents to abolish 370 and statehood, then everything is ok. AAP backed this crooked reasoning, which made a mockery of federalism.

New Modi govt rules apply to ALL publishers where:
(a) such publisher operates in territory of India; or
(b) such publisher conducts systematic business activity of making its content available in India."
So (a) covers systematic BLOGGERs in India. (b) ALL global news companies! This means @nytimes @washingtonpost @BBCWorld @CNN @guardian and all global sites which make content available in India must register with I&B ministry, appoint compliance officers resident in India, be subject to penalties the official committee imposes.

Good luck with that!

Big Brother is out of control.

* Universities now need govt permission to hold 'international' seminars, conferences etc

* Participant list needs govt approval

* MEA political clearance needed if topic is India's 'internal matter' 1/n

thewire.in/education/univ… | @thewire_in Let's assume 'international' event is one involving foreign scholars.

For a physical conf, existing rule says they need political clearance to get visa, come to India.

Now, even for virtual conference, MEA must clear paperwork otherwise, NO ENTRY for that Zoom meeting! 2/n

Have you ever thought about the morality/constitutionality of government forcing a citizen to inform the District Magistrate of their decision (or intention) to follow a different religion? This is what the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion does. 1/7 People have all kinds of beliefs—Religious (God. Allah. Ram. No god etc). Political (Communist, BJP, Congress, etc). Best actor (Amol Palekar, Amitabh, Rajni, etc). Why does govt want to know what god I believe in but not the party I support or football team I think is best? 2/7

Justice Arun Mishra is retiring soon so time to look at his Greatest Hits. No. 1 isn't @pbhushan1 but the Haren Pandya murder case. High Court acquitted all 12 convicts, CBI appeals SC in 2011. After 7 year limbo, matter comes to Mishra bench, Oct '18. thewire.in/law/haren-pand… 2. CBI case was built around eyewitness Yaadram, who saw killer fire 5 shots at Pandya as he sat in driver's seat of his Maruti 800. One shot enters scrotum and travels UP his body.

This is the official police photo of the Maruti. Pay attention to the driver's side window.

It is ridiculous—and dangerous—for @DelhiPolice to summon reporter @mahendermanral for his @IndianExpress story that a police probe found the Maulana Saad tape had been doctored. The Police formally denied the 'doctored tape' story and there the matter should have ended. 1/ Even if the reporter got it wrong—a very big if given the related BPRD story @IndianExpress ran the next day—what was the need for the police to summon and interrogate him for 3 hours? Was it because they know someone leaked the info and MHA bosses want to find out who did it? 2/

Freedom of speech/press is guaranteed by India's constitution & applies to all, regardless of their politics, ideology or manners. Constitution allows 'reasonable' restrictions but not violence. So no room for ifs & buts—the attack on Arnab Goswami last night must be condemned. The goons should be prosecuted to fullest extent of law, especially given Goswami's charge that they are affiliated to Congress—part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. Across India, sadly, political affiliations usually allow thugs to get away. Onus is on you, @OfficeofUT.

I only hope some awful counterpart of the J&K police Cyber Cell elsewhere in India doesn’t file an FIR against him for this “incriminating” material, calling our dear leader “sadistic”

https://twitter.com/tahir_a/status/355686716780187648

Now I would expect a police officer who heads a "Cyber Cell" to know that deleting a tweet does not make it go away.

Folks trying to suggest the story Prabhjit Singh did for @thewire_in on the harassment of Gujjars in Hoshiarpur, Punjab is "fake news", please see the videos we have posted of lathi wielding folks in this story! This was shot with actors in a studio?! thewire.in/rights/punjab-… 1/8 Story quotes local cops admitting there was a problem because people spread fake news of Gujjars causing corona. Isn't it convenient that the same scummy propaganda ecosystem generating false scares about Gujjars now rushes to brand reports on the Gujjars' plight as 'fake'! 2/8

So an Indian Diplomat Wants India to Follow the ‘Israel Model’ in Kashmir.... thewire.in/diplomacy/indi… via @thewire_in 1/n Sadly, this Indian diplomat did not really explain what this great "Israel Model" really consists of. Here, two Israelis, Maragret Olin and David Shulman, describe a Typical West Bank Morning Under Illegal Israeli Occupation thewire.in/world/israel-p… 2/n

I've finally had a chance to catch up with the EC's reasons for saying the Modi ASAT test televised address was not a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (eci.gov.in/mcc/). The EC's decision is flawed and illogical, as I shall explain below. 1/n The MCC is badly drafted & full of loopholes but Modi tom-tomming a sarkari achievement in election season would still appear to fall foul of two provisions: VII(4) on misuse of official media and VII(6)(b) which bars "laying foundation stones etc... of schemes of any kind". 2/n

Pretty blatant violation of the spirit of the model code of conduct, if not the letter. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt on the timing of the ASAT test, the fact that Modi chose to make this announcement himself gives the game away. thewire.in/politics/prime… When China did its ASAT test in 2007, the first announcement of it by the PRC was from its Foreign Min spokesperson. So bhakts will say, 'China is not a democracy'. And they're right. It's precisely because India is a democracy and has elections that Modi made the announcement!

Five Days After Airstrike, Questions Still Remain About the Indian, Pakistani Versions thewire.in/uncategorised/… via @thewire_in First: Did IAF jets cross LoC or fire from distance? (1) India hasn't officially spoken of crossing (2) Pakistan officially said they did (3) @SushantSin of @IndianExpress told by 'top official' they didn't cross. (4) @rajatpTOI of TOI told by top official they did,
'2-10 kms'