By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Eighteen opposition political party MPs have released a statement to the media expressing concern at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government’s repeated use of a ‘repackaged’ sedition law against The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan, its editors, journalists and columnists who have written for it and veteran Karan Thapar over coverage during India’s Operation Sindoor.
The statement is signed by Jairam Ramesh, Tiruchi Siva, John Brittas, Ramgopal Yadav, Digvijaya Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Renuka Choudhary, Mukul Wasnik, Sakthisinh Gohil, Syed Naseer Hussain, Javed Ali Khan, A.A. Rahim, V. Sivadasan, R. Girirajan, Anil Kumar Yadav, K. Kanimozhi, Karti Chidambaram and Mahua Moitra.
The full statement reads:
We are extremely concerned by the Assam Police’s harassment of Siddharth Varadarajan, Karan Thapar and other journalists associated with The Wire, misusing Section 152, BNS to file multiple criminal cases against them which carry the threat of life imprisonment.
The summons to journalists is a blatant attack on press freedom and democracy itself. The BJP government in Assam is misusing rebranded sedition laws to intimidate independent voices and silence criticism. We strongly condemn this and demand its withdrawal.
We call upon the police to immediately withdraw these malafide cases and for an end to use of Section 152 against the media.
Earlier, several opposition leaders had spoken out in support of The Wire as well.
Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam head M.K. Stalin noted that a democracy cannot survive if those asking questions are treated as seditious.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
