The rapidly devolving and degenerating administrative eco-system in India has exacerbated the rivalry between the principal pillars of democracy greatly. Never before have those in power and those who are supposed to speak truth to power been so irreconcilably opposed to the interests of the other.
The unprovoked vandalisation of the office of Deccan Chronicle in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, by goon activists belonging to the ruling Telugu Desam Party, over a report on the possible U-turn on the privatisation of the Vizag Steel Plant, a part of the RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd), that was based on a statement by a BJP leader and a minister in the N. Chandrababu Naidu-led government, is a blatant and vicious attack on press freedom.
For too long, such attacks have happened on social media by organised trolls hired by politicians with huge resources to further the singular purpose of gaslighting and silencing journalists, discrediting those amongst them who resist through a campaign of lies. While it is problematic, most journalists have made peace with it even, often seeing it as a fact of life. The odd complaint rarely begets justice or ensures punishment for the troll army.
But when the attacks move offline and enter the realm of physical space, and political parties start sending their activists with clear instructions to vandalise media offices, and manhandle and unleash violence upon mediapersons, also resort to arson, and brazenly, too — for this gang of lumpen elements recorded videos of their act in order to report it to their bosses as well as make an example of it — it is nothing short of an attack on democracy and our Constitution.
Let us all stand up to not only condemn it but to end this culture of violence against those who disagree with us, for in dissent lies the seed of progress and the portal of democracy.
