Is Criticism Not Welcomed In The ‘New India’? 17 FIRs Lodged Against People Putting Posters Criticizing The PM In Delhi, Modi Penal Code Taking Up The Indian Judiciary While The Freedom Of Speech Dissipating

The intolerant Indian government

‘Acche Din‘ now counts for nothing and has merely become a metaphor. A recent survey conducted by a renowned press media platform revealed that more than 63% of citizens believe that the current government has failed to provide the ‘good days’ to them.

Nevertheless, the current government does not seem to bother much about it. The skewed growth of the nation is just widespread perception. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the government’s seriousness and concern regarding its citizens and the country’s welfare. In a country where thousands of people are losing their lives daily, the government turned bare-faced and conducted their campaigns and gatherings of interests deliberately.

While the whole nation was struggling to arrange medical facilities like oxygen concentrators and ICU beds, PM Modi was busy gathering the votes. The mainstream media, on the other hand, was busy preaching the PM’s capricious actions and did not care to reveal the real-time COVID data of West Bengal. It was revealed post-elections that WB was also surging in the COVID-19 cases. The PM’s endearment for votes grew profound, while the country was shambling greatly at every level. 

Two of the many programs that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has developed appear to have had a profound effect on respondents to January 2019 of the Nation (MOTN) – Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (free cooking gas) and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (toilet construction). Like every other scheme of our PM, these schemes also didn’t provide any support to the citizens. Similarly, the central government’s Central Vista project is raising many concerns.

The national priority has been shifted from saving people’s lives to a redevelopment project. The imperious obsession with grandeur has become a priority more than the need to continue the project. National Museum of India and Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts consisting of 76 great scholars, artists, writers, and curators, etc. are set to be demolished. Several experts suggested to halt the project and consult the citizens for carrying forward to project, but in new India, can the Prime Minister be criticized?

Freedom of Speech mislaying, FIR lodged against those who criticize the government, Is this the ‘Acche Din’ PM Modi was talking about? 

The democracy is slowly dissipating as nearly 17 FIRs have been lodged against some ‘economically weak’ people including, daily wagers, for putting up the posters criticizing the government. The posters were questioning the government’s intentions regarding the export of the vaccines to other nations while risking the lives of its youth. The Indian government is already not doing much about its citizens regarding their economic welfare, and with this incident, India is retrograding back. Right to dissent stated in Article 19 (1) (a) guarantees the citizens freedom of speech. 

The posters, in no way, disobeyed or went beyond the implied limit to criticize the government. The administrative policy is exclusively about the matter of this policy. The citizens are shocked, traumatized by the bare-faced action of the government in the times of pandemic, wherein they had to become ‘AtmaNirbhar‘ themselves and arrange the basic medical amenities.

If among other things, the government comes to name the Prime Minister, it is for this reason that he is seen to be in charge of everything, including the confirmation of the hospitals and centers that took the vaccine responsibilities; that he has never had a press conference while his cabinet remains dignified without things making it extremely inevitable that the general opinion spreads as a reality holding the culture of modern India.

The hypocrisy has touched an all-time high in the country, as in 2012, BJP exceeded the implies and put antagonistic posters against ex-PM Manmohan Singh on the feigned 2G scam, attacking the center to gain the seats. Similarly, Manhoman Singh was featured on ‘Times Magazine’ as an underachiever, but he did not react the same way as our current PM did.

Fascism is also on an all-time high with the current government. It would be interesting to know how that GDP growth in total dollars has grown from 2014 to date. What we have heard over the past seven years is how India is going to become a $ 5 billion economy – going through talks but not getting anywhere close. As the Congress Party protested against the prime minister’s campaign, no one remembers that any acts of punishment were initiated, or FIR imposed.

Now even the BJP supporters are criticizing the government’s action

Some renowned right-wingers like Anupam Kher, and some vocal supporters of BJP, are criticizing the government’s current actions. Many of them are accounting the government for the massacre caused in the times of such deadly pandemic. In a country where millions of people lost their lives due to the unprecedented arrival of the pandemic, the government failed to arrange and regulate the basic amenities for its citizens.

The vaccination drive began on 16th January 2021 in India, where PM Modi claimed it to be the world’s largest vaccination drive. But at the same time, in the greed of supreme grandeur, the government exported the vaccines to other nations without thinking twice about its citizens. The people of the country are fighting for something basic yet crucial, a vaccine. The slots have become so tough to book due to the lack of vaccines for such a large population. 

The high level of action taken by the unemployed and the income earners who put up the poster questioning Modi was large because criticism of the government and the prime minister came from within the national camp ”. Or, take the case of a scholar, Makarand Paranjpe, who argues that India is not an independent country but based in Dharma and that the “civilization” of the nation is outdated, in the Hindustan Times. Note that Modi’s image has taken a hit; then, we will proceed to talk about the subtle image of Modi’s invincibility as one of the reasons for this incident.

The conclusion

As given in the contradictory circumstances, the citizens of India have a right to question its government regarding any inconsequential matter. The Constitution of India states the fundamental right in Article 19 (1) which guarantees full freedom of speech and expression to the Indian citizens. A ‘good’ government should always welcome constructive criticism.

Criticism should be welcomed by the government as it reminds the person where did they go wrong and can work on it, rather than misusing their powers to harass the citizens. In a country, where the citizens are feeling fretful and apprehensive by seeing the unforeseen downfall in every sector due to the government’s negligence, the agitation becomes obvious. 

The posters put up by the people only agonized a question regarding the export of the vaccines to other nations without thinking about their citizens. There should not be any big deal in asking such questions to the government, but the egocentric government found it right to arrest the citizens. India’s democracy is facing many challenges by both external and internal matters. The government should understand the reason for this criticism, accept and work on it, rather than lodging FIRs against the citizens.