Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have directly rebuffed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that now is not the time for war.
In what was the latest in a series of setbacks for the Russian leader, Modi told him of the need to “move onto a path of peace” and reminded him of the importance of “democracy, diplomacy and dialogue”.
The comments from Modi came during a face-to-face meeting on Friday, on the sidelines of a regional summit, and highlighted Russia’s increasing isolation on the diplomatic stage. They came just a day after Putin conceded that China, too, had “questions and concerns” over the invasion.
“I know that today’s era is not of war and we have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject that democracy and diplomacy and dialogue are all these things that touch the world,” Modi told Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
“We will definitely get a chance to discuss how we can move onto the path of peace in the coming days, I will also get an opportunity to understand your point of view,” he added, according to a readout of the meeting by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Putin responded by telling the Indian leader that he was aware of his concerns.
“I know about your position on the conflict in Ukraine and I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible,” he said.
Modi’s apparent criticism of Russia’s invasion is only the latest setback for Putin, whose forces have suffered a series of major defeats on the battlefield in recent weeks. Ukraine claims to have recaptured some 8,000 square kilometers of territory.
Diplomatically, Moscow also appears to be on a losing streak and this has been highlighted by exchanges at the summit in Samarkand, which brings together leaders from Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and four Central Asian countries.
It had seemed that Moscow and Beijing would be keen to present a united front at the summit to counterbalance the United States and its allies.
However, signs of divisions have emerged over Russia’s invasion, which has unsettled the leaders of former Soviet territories in Central Asia who are worried that Russia could encroach on their land too.
India and China are the biggest customers of Russian oil and the suggestions over the past days that both have reservations over the war give Moscow much to think about.
Earlier in the summit, after acknowledging China’s concerns, Putin had said, “We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis.”
Xi and Putin met for the first time since the war. Hear what they discussed
New Delhi, like Beijing, has strong ties with Moscow dating back to the Cold War and so far has largely steered clear of condemning outright the invasion by Russia, which remains India’s biggest arms supplier.
In a statement released after Friday’s meeting, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said discussions between the two leaders “also pertained to global food security, energy security and availability of fertilizers in the context of the challenges emanating from the current geo-political situation.”
“They agreed to remain in touch,” the ministry added.
The meeting comes as heavy shelling continues in areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that have been taken back from Russian forces. Ukrainian officials said they had uncovered at least 440 graves at a mass burial site in the city of Izium in the recently liberated Kharkiv region.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier Friday as it seeks to counter regional rival China’s much larger and growing fleet, and expand its own indigenous shipbuilding capabilities.
The INS Vikrant, whose name is a Sanskrit word for “powerful” or “courageous,” is India’s second operational aircraft carrier, joining the Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya that it purchased from Russia in 2004 to defend the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.
The new 262-meter (860-foot) carrier, designed by the Indian navy and built at the Cochin shipyard in southern India, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the country’s commemoration of 75 years of independence from British rule.
More than just adding to the country’s naval capabilities, Modi stressed the importance of India now being only one of a handful of nations with an indigenous carrier program.
“It’s a historic day and landmark achievement,” Modi said. “It’s an example of the government’s thrust to make India’s defense sector self-reliant.”
The carrier is the largest warship to be built in the country, and can carry a crew of around 1,600 and operate a fleet of 30 aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters, the navy said.
More than 75% of India’s new aircraft carrier’s components are indigenously procured, with half a dozen major industrial firms and over 100 smaller businesses providing equipment and machinery, according to the Defense Ministry.
A delay of six years caused a six-fold price overrun to 200 billion rupees ($2.5 billion) at present, according to defense experts.
The 47,400-ton warship will be fully operational by the end of 2023 after first undergoing landing trials with India’s Russian-made MiG-29K fighter aircraft.
India plans to equip the carrier with more than two dozen new fighters, with the Rafale-M from France’s Dassault and the F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet built by Boeing currently being considered.
Until then it will rely on the Russian aircraft borrowed from India’s only other carrier, said Rahul Bedi, a defense expert.
In recent years, China has expanded its presence into the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and beyond.
In August, it sailed a navy vessel to a Chinese-built port in Sri Lanka despite security concerns from New Delhi about such a port call right off India’s own coast. Beijing called the ship a research vessel, but it was widely believed to be a dual-use spy vessel that India feared could be used to surveil the region.
In response to concerns over China’s growing assertiveness, the Indian navy last year sent four warships to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific for exercises with members of the other “Quad” group of nations — the United States, Japan and Australia, according to India’s Defense Ministry.
Modi said on Friday that security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean have been ignored for too long.
“But, today this area is a big defense priority of the country for us. So, we are working in every direction, from increasing the budget for the navy to increasing its capacity,” he said.
The vast maritime region has been tense because of China’s disputes with its neighbors, including Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. There are competing claims for all or part of the strategically vital waterway that holds significant undersea oil and gas deposits.
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, has been modernizing for more than a decade to become more of a “blue water” force — one capable of operating globally rather than being restricted to remaining closer to the Chinese mainland, for which carriers are critical.
The PLAN currently has some 355 ships, including submarines, according to the U.S. Defense Department, which estimates the force will grow to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030.
It possessed two aircraft carriers and in June launched its third believed to be with an electromagnetic system like the United States uses in its new carriers. The Indian carrier uses the traditional “ski jump” type system to launch its aircraft.
India’s fleet now includes two aircraft carriers, 10 destroyers, 12 frigates and 20 corvette ships, according to its navy.
India’s older aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, was built in the Soviet Union in 1987. It served with the Soviet navy under the name Admiral Gorshkov, and later with the Russian navy before it was decommissioned in 1996. India purchased it in 2004 for $2.35 billion.
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia is moving to tighten its hold over occupied parts of Ukraine as its military campaign to take more territory in the eastern Donbas region stalls in the face of fierce resistance, with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
warning that fighting is set to intensify.
Three months into the war, Russia’s military advance is being held at bay by a Ukrainian army equipped with newly delivered Western arms amid mounting pressure on its economy. As a result, even Russian victories are coming at a high cost.
In Mariupol, the largest Ukrainian city taken over by Russian forces, Russia published footage of minesweepers preparing to clear the area around the Azovstal steel plant that had for weeks served as a refuge for hundreds of Ukrainian fighters until their surrender earlier this month. Petr Andriushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor Vadim Boychenko, said four of the Russian minesweepers had been wounded after a mine exploded on the plant’s territory, with one having sustained serious injuries. Russia didn’t immediately comment on the reports.
The Mariupol City Council, which functions partly from exile in the city of Zaporizhzhia, itself under threat from Russian forces, Tuesday published the names and photos of nine people it said were collaborating with the Russian occupying forces in Mariupol. “Those collaborators will be punished for the crimes they have committed against their city and country,” it wrote in a Telegram post.
Russian servicemen worked to clear mines at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sunday.
“The Russian occupiers are trying hard to show that they won’t give up parts of Kharkiv and Kherson region and occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia region and Donbas,” Mr. Zelensky said in a late-evening address on Monday. “The coming weeks of the war will be tough, and we should understand this. But we have no alternative but to fight.”
In Russia, opposition leader
Alexei Navalny,
one of the few vocal opponents to the invasion in Ukraine, again criticized Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s
campaign as a court rejected his appeal against a nine-year prison sentence.
“Putin can break a lot of lives, but sooner or later he will be defeated in both this and the stupid war he is waging,” Mr. Navalny said, according to his spokesperson.
From behind bars, Mr. Navalny has called on his supporters to protest the war. He is already serving a prison sentence that began in February last year in relation to a parole violation on an earlier conviction. His latest conviction stemmed from charges of fraud and contempt of court, which, like the other case against him, Mr. Navalny says are politically motivated.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared via video link during a court hearing on Tuesday.
Photo:
EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/REUTERS
“I am certainly ready to go to jail to tell everyone that people are dying,” said Mr. Navalny, who was speaking via video link and was repeatedly interrupted by the judge. “No one has killed more Russians than Putin.”
“Your time will pass and you will burn in hell,” Mr. Navalny said, though it is unclear how widely his comments will be heard in Russia.
Russia is facing what could be its sharpest slowdown in decades, partly due to rising defense expenditures and Western sanctions. The World Bank has forecast that Russia’s economic output will shrink by 11.2% this year, its worst contraction since the 1990s.
Efforts to bolster Russian control over seized Ukrainian cities and towns come amid a hardening of the front line in the eastern Donbas region. Moscow’s forces have slowed in their push to seize territory there and begun preparing for counter-offensives by Ukrainian forces armed with newly delivered Western arms, including M777 howitzer artillery pieces.
Ukraine says Russia is also getting ready to mount military offensives from occupied areas where it has had the time to regroup forces and strategize. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Tuesday that Russia has improved its tactical position around the town of Vasylivka in south Ukraine and was readying an attack northward toward Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital under Ukrainian control.
A Ukrainian soldier on a reconnaissance mission at the front line in Izyum.
Photo:
Manu Brabo for The Wall Street Journal
Smoke rose over the city of Soledar in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.
Photo:
aris messinis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air-based missiles, aviation and artillery have hit command posts and ammunition depots in several settlements along the Donbas front line.
Mr. Zelensky said during a news conference this week that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers could be dying each day on the front lines in the east of the country, where Russia has refocused its forces after failing to take Kyiv in the early days of the war. The Ukrainian leader said that as of April 16, between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, with up to 10,000 injured.
Ukraine has confirmed 4,600 civilian deaths as a result of Russian attacks since the invasion began on Feb. 24, including 232 children, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said on Monday in Davos. The figures don’t include information about Russian-occupied territories, she said.
In Kherson, a city of 290,000 that came under Russian control in the first weeks of the war, attempts to integrate more closely with Russia have advanced furthest. Andrei Turchak, the head of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, said on a recent visit to the city, north of the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, that “Russia is here to stay forever.”
People evacuating Bakhmut, in the Donbas area, on Tuesday.
Photo:
aris messinis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A flower shop in a market in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.
Photo:
Bernat Armangue/Associated Press
The Russian-appointed deputy regional head in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, on Tuesday called for a Russian military base to be established as “a guarantor of continued peace and security in our region.” Mr. Stremousov, who has previously said that Kherson region would start using the Russian ruble and would aspire to join Russia, told Russia’s state news wire RIA that the regional population backed closer integration with Russia.
Polls taken on a nationwide level appear to contradict that idea. In a survey published Tuesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 82% of the 2,000 respondents across Ukraine said the country shouldn’t make territorial concessions in exchange for peace. Only 10% backed the idea of ceding territory to Russia.
Mr. Stremousov is a wanted man in Ukraine, which is stepping up its campaign to prosecute collaborators and Russian soldiers accused of committing atrocities in areas they have occupied.
On Monday, a Russian soldier was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison in Ukraine’s first war-crimes trial since the Russian invasion began.
The European Union, meanwhile, is working to find new ways to get grain out of Ukraine, such as by shipping Ukrainian produce over land to European ports, said European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland is pushing the U.S. and EU to help rapidly expand the rail infrastructure needed to export Ukraine’s looming grain harvest, circumventing Russia’s naval chokehold in the Black Sea.
A damaged Ukrainian armored vehicle outside the city of Lysychansk in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine.
Photo:
aris messinis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ms. von der Leyen accused Russia of weaponizing food partly by undermining Ukraine’s ability to export. She said 20 million tons of wheat are stuck in Ukraine and normal monthly exports of around five million tons are down to 200,000 or one million tons.
Denmark’s pledge to send a Harpoon launcher and antiship missiles to Ukraine, which was disclosed on Monday, would help Kyiv bolster its defense against the Russian navy, which is laying siege to its Black Sea ports. The U.S.-made missiles would extend Ukraine’s striking range against Russian ships that have attacked it from the Black Sea.
“This is more than just a European issue. It’s a global issue,’’ President Biden said of the war, in remarks during a meeting of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue made up of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India.
The remarks appeared to make a personal plea to Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
The U.S. has been trying to persuade India to come off the sidelines and take a more forceful stand against Russia.
A joint statement released by the Quad after the meeting referred to “a tragic conflict raging in Ukraine” but didn’t say who was to blame.
U.S. troop numbers deployed in Europe have increased by 30% as a result of the war, topping 100,000, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen.
Mark Milley.
—Georgi Kantchev contributed to this article.
Write to Matthew Luxmoore at Matthew.Luxmoore@wsj.com
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting at Jerenga Pathar in the Sivasagar district of India’s Assam state on Jan. 23, 2021.
Biju Boro | AFP | Getty Images
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revels in his image as a strong and decisive leader. But the premier was forced to make a stunning U-turn recently and abandoned controversial farm laws after year-long protests — a move one analyst called a “public policy failure.”
“While apologizing to the countrymen, today I want to say sincerely that perhaps there must have been some deficiency … that we could not explain the truth like the light of the lamp to the farmer brothers,” Modi said in a national televised address in November last year.
“I want to tell you, the entire country, that we have decided to repeal all three agricultural laws,” he announced.
India’s parliament passed those laws in September 2020 triggering months of protests, which saw tens of thousands of farmers take to the streets. The reforms would have removed state protections that have shielded India’s farmers for decades, and subject them to unfettered free-market mechanisms where competition would be high.
This was one of Modi’s biggest policy reversals since assuming power in 2014. The rare apology was a humbling moment for the prime minister, who learned there are drawbacks to his strongman approach.
“This is not Modi’s first public policy failure, though certainly it was the most public reversal,” said Akhil Bery, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute. The political cave in on the agriculture reforms “did show that there are limitations to his power,” he told CNBC.
A hallmark of Modi’s governing style has been the use of executive power, with little public debate for “big bang” reforms or policy declarations, said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
When the government is unable to stanch protest and criticism, it dents Modi’s image and he must look to change course.
Neelanjan Sircar
Centre for Policy Research
“Yet, when we look at some of the notable attempts to use executive power in this manner, we do not find a lot of successes,” he added.
“Whether [it’s] land use changes, modifications to India’s citizenship rules or agricultural reforms, the government has been forced to either stall or reverse its proposed policies,” Sircar said. “When the government is unable to stanch protest and criticism, it dents Modi’s image and he must look to change course.”
High-stakes state polls
These policy missteps couldn’t come at a worse time for the prime minister as India heads to the polls in several key states in February and March.
Local elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will be a crucial indicator of public sentiment ahead of the 2024 general elections. Modi’s rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) controls four of the five states.
“The upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh will be a key test for his popularity — whether or not people are growing disenchanted with his governing style,” said Bery.
“In some parts of the state, yes, he will be a drag — especially in western [Uttar Pradesh] where there is a strong farming constituency. These farmers are fairly opposed to the government due to the farm laws,” he added.
Still, Modi remains India’s most popular leader. According to the data intelligence agency Morning Consult, his popularity is still the highest among the world leaders they track, and he maintains a strong base of support in India.
Criticism over Covid handling
But the prime minister’s popularity was eroded last year as India battled a deadly second Covid-19 wave.
According to India Today’s “Mood of the Nation” survey released in August, only 24% of respondents felt Modi was the best choice for the next prime minister at that time. It was a sharp decline from 38% in January 2021.
A key reason for the drop in ratings was the way he handled the Covid crisis and related economic concerns, such as surging inflation and rising unemployment.
Modi was widely criticized for his extensive campaigns and for holding large rallies while India was in the middle of thedelta outbreak, which took a devastating toll on its public health system.
Undoubtedly, he can make a comeback. From 2001 to date, Modi has constantly reinvented himself…
Milan Vaishnav
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carefully crafted persona
Despite his current political problems, Modi is a highly skillful politician who is good at reinventing himself to protect his carefully crafted persona, said Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Undoubtedly, he can make a comeback. From 2001 to date, Modi has constantly reinvented himself — from Hindu strongman to CEO prime minister. One does not necessarily know what his next avatar is. But he has stayed a step ahead of the opposition at every turn,” Vaishnav noted.
Another factor working to Modi’s advantage is India’s divided opposition, which has failed to capitalize on the prime minister’s political stumbles.
“The Congress party certainly seems to be in the doldrums at a national level,” said Sircar from the Centre for Policy Research. “The rise of ‘third parties’ in India on the national scene … is a symptom of the problem. It is unclear whether the opposition can put up much of a fight in electoral terms, whether unified or not.”
Hardline tone will remain
One thing seems clear, however. Modi is unlikely to moderate his hardline approach in the run-up to the state elections. This is evident in the current tone and tenor of the campaign so far, political analysts say.
“The governance style Modi has adopted in Delhi has been honed after a dozen years in Gujarat and seems intrinsic to who he is as a person and a leader. Coalition-building and diffusing power are simply not compatible with his style,” Vaishav said.
What recent events in India show is that political leaders in India can be defeated, even if they are personally very popular.
Neelanjan Sircar
Centre for Policy Research
The one thing “we’ve learned from Indian politics is that political actors — whether Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi or Mamata Banerjee, rarely change their governing and organizational tactics,” said Sircar, adding the prime minister will not abandon his hardline tactics in order to limit the political damage to his image.
This is mainly because, he argued, Modi’s populist persona isn’t built on his ability to enact policy, saying his record is “poor” on that front. Rather, it stems from projecting “an image of a person in whom the population places its faith,” said Sircar.
“What recent events in India show is that political leaders in India can be defeated, even if they are personally very popular,” he added.
NEW YORK (AP) — Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to cast Pakistan as the victim of American ungratefulness and an international double standard in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.
In a prerecorded speech aired during the evening, the Pakistani prime minister touched on a range of topics that included climate change, global Islamophobia and “the plunder of the developing world by their corrupt elites” — the latter of which he likened to what the East India Company did to India.
It was for India’s government that Khan reserved his harshest words, once again labeling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government “fascist.” But the cricketer turned posh international celebrity turned politician was in turn indignant and plaintive as he painted the United States as an abandoner of both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.
“For the current situation in Afghanistan, for some reason, Pakistan has been blamed for the turn of events, by politicians in the United States and some politicians in Europe,” Khan said. “From this platform, I want them all to know, the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when we joined the U.S. war on terror after 9/11.”
He launched into a narrative that began with the United States and Pakistan training mujahedeen — regarded as heroes by the likes of then-President Ronald Reagan, he said — during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. But Pakistan was left to pick up the pieces — millions of refugees and new sectarian militant groups — when the Soviets and the Americans left in 1989.
Khan said the U.S. sanctioned its former partner a year later, but then came calling again after the 9/11 attacks. Khan said Pakistan’s aid to the U.S. cost 80,000 Pakistani lives and caused internal strife and dissent directed at the state, all while the U.S. conducted drone attacks.
“So, when we hear this at the end. There is a lot of worry in the U.S. about taking care of the interpreters and everyone who helped the U.S.,” he said, referring to Afghanistan. “What about us?”
Instead of a mere “word of appreciation,” Pakistan has received blame, Khan said.
Despite Khan’s rhetoric espousing a desire for peace, many Afghans have blamed Pakistan for the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan because of close links. The United Nations in August also rejected Pakistan’s request to give its side at a special meeting on Afghanistan, indicating the international community’s shared skepticism.
In his speech, Khan echoed what his foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told The Associated Press earlier this week on the sidelines at the U.N.: the international community should not isolate the Taliban, but instead strengthen the current Afghan government for the sake of the people.
He struck an optimistic tone about Taliban rule, saying their leaders had committed to human rights, an inclusive government and not allowing terrorists on Afghan soil. But messages from the Taliban have been mixed.
A Taliban founder told the AP earlier this week that the hard-liners would once again carry out executions and amputated hands — though this time after adjudication by judges, including women, and potentially not in public.
“If the world community incentivizes them, and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.
Khan also turned his ire on that same community for what he perceives as a free pass given to India.
“It is unfortunate, very unfortunate, that the world’s approach to violations of human rights lacks even-handedness, and even is selective. Geopolitical considerations, or corporate interests, commercial interests often compel major powers to overlook the transgressions of their affiliated countries,” Khan said.
He went through a litany of actions that have “unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million strong Muslim community,” he said, including lynchings, pogroms and discriminatory citizenship laws.
As in years past, Khan — who favors delivering his speeches in his British-inflected English, in contrast to Modi’s Hindi addresses — devoted substantial time to Kashmir.
“New Delhi has also embarked on what it ominously calls the ‘final solution’ for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Khan said, rattling off a list of what he termed “gross and systematic violations of human rights” committed by Indian forces. He specifically decried the “forcible snatching of the mortal remains of the great Kashmiri leader, ” Syed Ali Geelani , who died earlier this month at 91.
Geelani’s family has said authorities took his body and buried him discreetly and without their consent, denying the separatist leader revered in Kashmir a proper Islamic burial. Khan called upon the General Assembly to demand Geelani’s proper burial and rites.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and has been claimed by both since they won independence from the British empire and began fighting over their rival claims.
He said Pakistan desires peace, but it is India’s responsibility to meaningfully engage.
India exercised its right of reply after the last leader spoke Friday, saying it was upon Pakistan, not India, to demonstrate good faith in engagement. An Indian diplomat said Pakistan needed to look inward before making accusations, and stressed that Kashmir was inalienably India’s. Pakistan then exercised its own right of reply, excoriating India once more.
Modi is set to address the U.N. General Assembly in person on Saturday, a day after a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
___
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NEW DELHI: BJP continues with its strategy of image “makeover” with surprise decisions as Vijay Rupani, who resigned as Gujarat chief minister on Saturday, being the fourth CM to quit office after BS Yeddyurappa (Karnataka) and Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) resigned in the past few months. Sarbanand Sonowal, under whom the party had contested the Assam assembly elections, resigned even after an impressive victory to pave the way for the succession of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the incumbent CM of the state.
There have been varied reasons for the replacement of the four CMs but the exit of Rupani had been doing the rounds in the past few months mainly after the second Covid wave hit the state hard and questions were raised about the government’s handling of the crisis. Sources said it was speculated that an understanding had been reached late last year that Rupani will be replaced as party will go into state polls in December 2022, under the new chief minister. The exact timeline was not known and it seems likely that the replacement would most likely be from the Patidar community, a decisive vote bank, that has had a few grouses with the state BJP leadership. Senior party leaders including general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, union minister and state in charge Bhupendra Yadav, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and minister of fisheries Vijay Rupala are in the state capital where a smooth transition is likely amid possibility of a Patidar leader replacing Rupani.
Party sources maintained that the change of leadership is being considered under supervision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat had to resign after the central leadership was getting feedback about “lacklustre” performance of his government and also some controversial decisions like proposed take-over of temple managements by the state government. A section of RSS and groups of seers were said to be unhappy and had threatened to launch agitation against the government. The central leadership had failed to contain dissensions in its Karnataka unit over Yeddyurappa, who had to quit finally after which Basavaraj Bommai took over as the CM.
NEW DELHI (AP) — When Vinod K. Jose, executive editor of The Caravan, India’s leading investigating magazine, logged onto Twitter on Monday, he was shocked to find the magazine’s account blocked.
Jose was already dealing with a case of sedition and other charges against him, the magazine owners and a freelance journalist. At the heart of the allegations is the magazine’s coverage of the ongoing farmers’ protests that have gripped India for more than two months.
As the farmers camp out at the edges of the capital, protesting new agricultural laws they say will devastate their earnings, the mainstream and social media have come under unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Critics say it has used the massive demonstrations to escalate a crackdown on free speech, detaining journalists and freezing Twitter accounts.
“It’s a very chilling development for the press,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group.
Jose shared a screenshot of the blocked account from his personal handle. Soon outrage ensued. Activists, journalists and media watchdogs rushed to condemn Twitter, which said it had acted upon a “valid legal request” issued by an Indian authority.
Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts, including those of news websites, activists and a farmers’ union, were suspended on Monday. Some, including The Caravan’s, have since been restored.
Offline, at least nine journalists have been charged in the last few weeks for covering the protests.
The trigger for the clampdown was the death of a protester, Navneet Singh, when the largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Jan. 26 after a group of farmers veered from an agreed protest route and stormed New Delhi’s 17th century Red Fort. Hundreds of police and farmers were injured in clashes.
Farmer leaders condemned the violence but refused to call off the protest.
Authorities say no shots were fired and that Singh died because his tractor overturned. His family alleged he was fatally shot. Their account has been published by several outlets, including The Caravan.
Ministers in Modi’s government accused the journalists and a prominent opposition parliamentarian of inciting hatred and endangering the nation’s integrity through inaccurate reporting and tweets. It led to the filing of colonial-era sedition charges, which carry a maximum five-year prison term.
The law, like its equivalent in other former British colonies, is viewed as draconian and was revoked in the United Kingdom in 2010.
Prosecutions on sedition charges are rare but their use to silence journalists, critics and dissenters in India isn’t new and previous governments had resorted to it. But official data shows that Modi’s government has used the law more than any other — up by nearly 30%. It has also repeatedly rejected demands to repeal it.
Calls and messages seeking comment from four BJP spokespersons went unanswered. Calls to the party’s media office also were unsuccessful.
Media watchdogs and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, condemned the government’s actions as censorship. The Editors Guild of India said the cases against journalists were “an attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat, and stifle the media.”
Daniel Bastard, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific desk, said the government was trying to impose its own narrative.
Critics say India under Modi is growing intolerant. Its ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has fallen every year, and it ranked 142nd out of 180 places in 2020.
Reporters Without Borders noted “police violence against journalists” and increased “pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line” as a major reason for the demotion.
But similarly, Twitter’s reaction of suspending accounts has also “set a terrible precedent” for free speech and press, said Jose.
“We like Twitter to stand neutral as opposed to being vulnerable to the pressures of power,” he said.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in its notice to Twitter on Monday said that it directed the company to take down accounts that had used incendiary hashtags during the Jan. 26 violence. But Jose said The Caravan never used such hashtags and that Twitter did not notify the magazine before suspending its account.
The ministry did not respond to calls and emails but issued another statement Wednesday, accusing Twitter of “unilaterally” restoring the accounts “despite orders to withhold them.”
It said the platform had to adhere to the authorities’ directions and may face criminal charges “for not complying with government orders.”
Twitter declined to comment.
Gupta from Internet Freedom Foundation said the IT law the government invoked to freeze the Twitter accounts gives it the power to direct online intermediaries and internet service providers to block certain content without providing any explanation.
“In the past, governments have blocked individual journalistic accounts, but the blocking of an account of an entire publication is a level of escalation,” said Gupta.
The government’s response to the farmer protests has gone beyond India’s borders.
On Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned “vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda” after pop star Rihanna and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of the protests.
Entertainers in India haven’t been spared either.
On Jan. 1, Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested for allegedly insulting Hindu sentiments while performing in Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh state that’s ruled by Modi’s party.
In India, intentionally hurting religious sentiments is a criminal offense. But Faruqui was arrested preemptively before his performance even began.
“Before he could even make the joke, before he could even really start the show, police came and dragged him away,” said Anshuman Shrivastava, Faruqui’s lawyer.
The show was canceled and police have since admitted they have no evidence against the comic. He was granted temporary bail by the Supreme Court on Friday, after three lower courts refused to do so.
The Associated Press reached out to five prominent comedians who didn’t want to speak on record but said they were increasingly scared of making jokes against the government and Hindu religion.
“What we are witnessing right now is a blatant violation of free speech in India, which the government has legitimized in full public view,” said Sanjay Rajoura, a prominent Indian satirist. “The government first came after Muslims because they are an easily visible minority. But now it is coming after anyone who has an informed, intelligent expression.”
The ire of Hindu nationalist groups aligned with Modi’s party has also caught streaming platforms off guard. Many of their shows have faced boycott calls and legal cases. Recently, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Amazon Prime over its show “Mirzapur” after a petition claimed it hurt cultural sentiments.
Such incidents haven’t inspired much faith in the courts, said The Caravan’s Jose. He and the owners are still battling criminal charges.
“I hope the courts see that the world is watching how the largest democracy’s judiciary defends personal liberties,” Jose said.
New Delhi — Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg said Thursday that “hate” and “threats” wouldn’t stop her speaking out in support of thousands of Indian farmers locked in a standoff with their government. Thunberg fired back online as police in India launched an investigation mentioning her tweets, which have drawn a vitriolic reaction online.
“I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest,” the young Swedish campaigner wrote on Twitter.
I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021
Indian police have begun the process of investigating what the government labels “propaganda” by “vested interest groups” trying to “mobilize international support against India.”
The investigation may encompass a number of social media posts, including some shared by Thunberg, in support of the farmers’ months-long protest.
The Delhi police cited her tweets in a First Information Report (FIR), the first step in the investigatory process under Indian law, which alleges a “criminal conspiracy” and an attempt to “promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language… and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony,” according to Indian news outlet NDTV.
Earlier on Thursday, Thunberg shared a “toolkit” in a Twitter post that advises people on how to show support for the protesters.
Delhi police said Thursday that their investigation into an “overseas conspiracy” was not against Thunberg, but the “toolkit” she tweeted out, which they say originated with a Sikh separatist group.
Thunberg first voiced solidarity with the farmers after popstar Rihanna drew global attention to their protest against three controversial new farm laws. The demonstrations have simmered since November, with occasional violent clashes in Delhi.
Protesting farmers are seen amid tear gas smoke fired by police in an attempt to stop them from marching to the capital during India’s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, January 26, 2021.
Altaf Qadri/AP
The Indian government took on the celebrities Wednesday after their tweets attracted global attention, dismissing the social media messages as “sensationalist” and “neither accurate nor responsible.”
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” India’s external affairs ministry said in a statement.
Several other public figures, including activists, and American politicians, also tweeted in support of the farmers.
“It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters,” wrote U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris.
The unfolding events in India are troubling. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am closely monitoring the situation. The right to peaceful protest must always be respected. #FarmersProtest
— Rep. Jim Costa (@RepJimCosta) February 2, 2021
“The unfolding events in India are troubling. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am closely monitoring the situation. The right to peaceful protest must always be respected,” wrote U.S. Representative Jim Costa, a Democrat from California who serves on both the Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in India have been locked in a defiant standoff with the government since late last year over three agriculture reform laws approved in September.
The government insists the reforms will give expanded market access and greater flexibility to farmers. But farmers say the measures will help big business and destroy the livelihoods of small-time farmers. They’re demanding a complete repeal of all three laws.
Eleven rounds of talks between the leaders of the farm protests and Modi’s government have failed to resolve the standoff.
India’s agriculture sector contributes almost 15% to India’s $2.9 trillion economy, and employs nearly half of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
The Indian government on Wednesday reiterated its justification for the reforms and claimed it was only a “very small section of farmers in parts of India” who “have some reservations about these reforms.”
The government insisted the laws were approved after a “full debate and discussion” in parliament.
Standoff around the capital
Indian police have stepped up their efforts to prevent the protesting farmers from entering the capital again, ahead of a call for a second nationwide shutdown this weekend in support of the protest.
The farmers have threatened to block roads across the country on Saturday in protest against what they call harassment by government authorities, including the severing of water, power and internet services to the protest camps.
Security officers, in the foreground, push back people shouting slogans during a demonstration held in support to farmers who have been on a months-long protest, in New Delhi, India, February 3, 2021.
Manish Swarup/AP
Internet services were shut down earlier this week at three key highway entry points into Delhi where the farmers have been camped out for more than two months.
Several Indian news outlets reported that the police had put up iron spikes, barbed wire and concrete walls at various entry points to the capital.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian government to drop legal cases against eight journalists who were arrested after their reporting on the January 26 protests and clashes.
Security personnel stand guard at an entry point into New Delhi, ahead of a march in support of farmers protesting against the central government’s recent agricultural reforms in New Delhi, February 3, 2021.
MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty
“The Indian authorities’ response to protests has focused on discrediting peaceful protesters, harassing critics of the government, and prosecuting those reporting on the events,” said HRW South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly.
Warning to Twitter
The Indian government warned Twitter on Wednesday that it could take some unspecified action against the social media platform for its move to “unilaterally” un-block more than 250 accounts that it suspended on Monday, at the government’s request, over the use of a controversial hashtag related to the farmer protests.
The government had labelled the tweets using the hashtag, which accuses officials of planning a “genocide” of farmers, part of a, “motivated campaign to abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds.”
“Incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech; It is a threat to law and order,” the government has insisted in its warnings to the social media company to comply.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of farmers who stormed the historic Red Fort on India’s Republic Day were again camped outside the capital Wednesday after the most volatile day of their two-month standoff left one protester dead and more than 300 police officers injured.
The protests demanding the repeal of new agricultural laws have grown into a rebellion that is rattling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. On Tuesday, more than 10,000 tractors and thousands more people on foot or horseback tried to advance into the capital, shoving aside barricades and buses blocking their path and at times met by police using tear gas and water cannons.
Their brief takeover of the 17th-century fort, which was the palace of Mughal emperors, played out live Indian news channels. The farmers, some carrying ceremonial swords, ropes and sticks, overwhelmed police. In a profoundly symbolic challenge to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government, the protesters who stormed Red Fort hoisted a Sikh religious flag.
“The situation is normal now. The protesters have left the streets of the capital,″ New Delhi police officer Anto Alphonse said Wednesday morning.
The protesting farmers’ groups are scheduled to meet later Wednesday to discuss the future course of action. Another march is planned for Feb. 1 when the Modi government is scheduled to present the annual budget in Parliament.
Protest organizer Samyukt Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers’ Front, accused two outside groups of sabotage by infiltrating their otherwise peaceful movement.
“Even if it was a sabotage, we can’t escape responsibility,” said Yogendra Yadav, a protest leader.
Yadav said frustration had built up among the protesting farmers and “how do you control it if the government is not serious about what they have been demanding for two months.”
Several roads were closed again on Wednesday near the police headquarters and Connaught Place areas following a protest by some retired Delhi police officers demanding prosecution of the protesting farmers who engaged in violence, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
Political analyst Arti Jerath said Tuesday’s violence will put the farmers’ organizations on their back foot.
“The Supreme Court has all along said the farmers can continue with the protest without disrupting the life in New Delhi. Tuesday’s development has given the government a handle to go to the top court and say see this is precisely what it was fearing that it would turn violent. ”
Tuesday’s escalation overshadowed Republic Day celebrations, including the annual military parade that was already scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities shut some metro train stations, and mobile internet service was suspended in some parts of the capital, a frequent tactic of the government to thwart protests.
The farmers — many of them Sikhs from Punjab and Haryana states — tried to march into New Delhi in November but were stopped by police. Since then, unfazed by the winter cold and frequent rains, they have hunkered down at the edge of the city and threatened to besiege it if the farm laws are not repealed.
Neeraja Choudhury, a political analyst, said the government failed to anticipate what was coming and prepare for it adequately. “If the farmers are agitated overall India, you can’t dismiss the protests as some opposition inciting the farmers.”
Anil Kumar, a police spokesman, said more than 300 police personnel were injured in clashes with farmers. Several of them jumped into a deep dry drain in the fort area to escape the protesters who outnumbered them at several places.
Police said one protester died after his tractor overturned, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloodied protesters could be seen in television footage.
Police said the protesting farmers broke away from the approved protest routes and resorted to “violence and vandalism.” Eight buses and 17 private vehicles were damaged, said police, who filed four cases over vandalism against the protesters.
The government insists the agricultural laws passed by Parliament in September will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment. But the farmers fear it will turn agricultural corporate and leave them behind. The government has offered to suspend the laws for 18 months, but the farmers want nothing less than a full repeal.
Since returning to power for a second term, Modi’s government has been rocked by several convulsions. The pandemic sent India’s already-teetering economy into its first-ever recession, social strife has widened and his government has been questioned over its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, the year that witnessed the first major protests against his administration, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a contentious new citizenship law that they said discriminated against Muslims.
“The government on the national security front has failed. I think this government seems to be quite blinkered on the kind of security challenges that it is creating for itself by alienating minority communities, Muslims and Sikhs,” said Arti Jerath, a political analyst.
India is predominantly Hindu while Muslims comprise 14% and Sikhs nearly 2% of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.
They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence.
Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones.
Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest.
For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialize agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.
“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five. “We will not surrender.”
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at numerous places to push back the rows upon rows of tractors, which shoved aside concrete and steel barricades. Authorities blocked roads with large trucks and buses in an attempt to stop the farmers from reaching the center of the capital.
“We will do as we want to. You cannot force your laws on the poor,” said Manjeet Singh, a protesting farmer.
The government insists that the agriculture reform laws passed by Parliament in September will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment.
Farmers tried to march into New Delhi in November but were stopped by police. Since then, unfazed by the winter cold, they have hunkered down at the edge of the city and threatened to besiege it if the farm laws are not repealed.
The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months. But farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal. They plan to march on foot to Parliament on Feb. 1, when the country’s new budget will be presented.
The tractor rally overshadowed the Republic Day celebrations, which were scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A thin crowd assembled along ceremonial Rajpath boulevard in New Delhi to watch a parade displaying the country’s military power and cultural diversity. People wore masks and adhered to social distancing as police and military battalions marched along the route displaying their latest equipment.
Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on Jan. 26, 1950.
Farmers are the latest group to upset Modi’s image of imperturbable dominance in Indian politics.
Since returning to power for a second term, Modi’s government has been rocked by several convulsions. The economy has tanked, social strife has widened, protests have erupted against discriminatory laws and his government has been questioned over its response to the pandemic.
Agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But the economic clout of farmers has diminished over the last three decades. Once producing a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy.
More than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 killing themselves in 2018 and 2019, according to official records.
The contentious legislation has exacerbated existing resentment from farmers, who have long been seen as the heart and soul of India but often complain of being ignored by the government.
Modi has tried to allay farmers’ fears by mostly dismissing their concerns and has repeatedly accused opposition parties of agitating them by spreading rumors. Some leaders of his party have called the farmers “anti-national,” a label often given to those who criticize Modi or his policies.
Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who has spent the last two decades campaigning for income equality for Indian farmers, said they are not only protesting the reforms but also “challenging the entire economic design of the country.”
“The anger that you see is compounded anger,” Sharma said. “Inequality is growing in India and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked the income from the bottom to the top. The farmers are only demanding what is their right.”
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AP video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.
