Is it illegal in India to push views that China may like?

The activist outfit, Newsclick, is under attack from the Indian government on the suspicion that it is funded by China to unsettle India. Its founder Prabir Purkayastha has been arrested and at the time of filing this column was held under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, one of those stringent laws that has introduced many Indians to the word ‘draconian.’ Several freelancers who had contributed to the site were questioned for hours by the Delhi police, and many more are deemed “suspects.” Mainstream journalistic bodies see in this episode yet another effort by the government to intimidate its foes. They are not wrong, but Newsclick does not emerge well at all.

The police has leaked to the media that Newsclick has received about ₹38 crore in donations since 2017 from non-profits and shell companies linked to a wealthy American named Neville Roy Singham who considers himself a “Marxist” and has close links to the Chinese government. Whatever the actual figure, it does appear that Singham funnelled crores into an outfit that is practically not worth a fraction of that. So what was Singham buying; what was Newsclick selling? If Newsclick is a journalistic organization, then it appears shady. As a pressure group, it fares a bit better, but morally it is in the grey area. In either case, there is no evidence that it is a criminal syndicate. The government, once again, has used disproportionate force against activists.

It has been probing Newsclick for three years using its formidable powers, including those of the Enforcement Directorate, and has found nothing substantive to prove Newsclick is waging a war against India on China’s behalf. The First Information Report against Purkayastha, which the Delhi police only reluctantly showed him after a court order to do so, makes vague claims.

Over the years, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government has demonstrated a special concern for not-for-profit organizations. It is as though the party is privy to their secret powers. After all, one of them, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, did help bag India for the party. So maybe other not-for-profits can do it for others?

Over the past decade, the government has created an environment of fear among activists who are critical of it. Some have been jailed for years on feeble grounds. As a result, India has acquired a poor global reputation, by which we of course mean a reputation in the West. India is just a little better than China and Russia in Western perceptions of freedom. Why it is not in the same league is probably because it is convenient for the West to imagine that the largest democracy in the world is a better place than China or Russia. The Newsclick case, though, adds some credibility to India’s suspicions of the organized empathy industry.

In August, The New York Times ran a story that portrayed Singham as a shadowy millionaire who indirectly funded several organizations around the world to promote China’s point of view. One of the operations he funded through the circuitous route, the report states, was Newsclick.

In several parts of the world, Singham’s intervention created “a seemingly organic bloom of far-left groups that echo Chinese government talking points, echo one another, and are echoed in turn by the Chinese state media… These groups operate in coordination. They have cross-posted articles and shared one another’s content on social media hundreds of times.”

The NYT had reported on Singham before. In a 2021 story, ‘How Beijing influences the influencers,’ it reported that some American social media influencers who showed a pleasant side of China or transmitted fake news that vilified the US were funded by China. But it would be unthinkable for the US government to imprison such influencers under an anti-terror law. Freedom is a habit, and America has had it much longer than India. And freedom should ideally include the right to be morally grey or even corrupt, as long as one does not pose a danger to others.

In that light, it makes sense for Indian journalists who are not aligned with the BJP to condemn the disproportionate use of state power on an activist who may at worst have hustled some funds. If the money was for promoting Chinese propaganda, Newsclick has done such a bad job China should be more livid than India.

Newsclick, in its feeble defence, has not denied it took Singham’s money. It has said that no matter who funded it, it remains “independent.” Maybe the views of Purkayastha, who has never hidden his affection for the communist movement in India, were so aligned with Singham’s that the millionaire did not have to bribe anyone. He had to just help Newsclick survive.

But even if, for a moment, we accept that Purkayastha accepted money to promote China’s views, is it illegal? Unethical maybe, as all of sponsored activism is, but illegal? He did not try to create an insurrection or cause any injury. Does India not allow us the freedom to make a living off propaganda?

Indian activists who have faced similar trouble from the government in the past have gone to the Supreme Court with pious claims of innocence. It would be more meaningful if they instead went asking if they, like Americans, have a right to non-criminal propaganda, and if they do, do they have the right to access foreign funds? That would settle the whole business once and for all. Otherwise, the government will have an upper hand. So often, what people need but never ask for is the right to mediocrity.