oppn parties Where Is Fair Play & Freedom Of Speech In India?

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Where Is Fair Play & Freedom Of Speech In India?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2025-05-18 14:37:46

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Most things work weirdly in India. The befitting reply to Pakistan's terror misadventures, Operation Sindoor, succeeded in establishing India's supremacy over its rogue neighbour. But there have been internal fallouts that are concerning, to say the least.

It started with the massive trolling of Vikram Misri, the foreign secretary of India who was tasked with speaking to the media daily during the operation. He was trolled for announcing the ceasefire by those who were baying for Pakistan's blood. The vile persons did not stop at that. They targeted his daughter on the assumption that she was helping Rohingya refugees in her professional capacity.

Then, Col Sofiya Quereshi was targeted, first by unnamed trolls and later by MP minister Vijay Shah. The government's excellent idea of letting two women officers - one Hindu and the other Muslim, brief the press on Operation Sindoor went for a toss as Shah created a 'us' versus 'them' narrative to paint Quereshi as 'them'. It was the most stupid, and dangerous, thing to say. MP high court was constrained to ask the police to file an FIR against him and was disturbed when a 'weak' FIR was filed. It later ordered a court-monitored probe.

Then, Jagdish Devda, the deputy chief minister of the same state (in fact, after these two major incidents, the BJP is putting a lid on its MP leaders and began schooling them on how to speak about Operation Sindoor in rallies and before the media), spoke in a manner which suggested that even the Indian Army was at PM Modi's feet. Though the BJP tried to defend him by saying that he was misquoted, the speech is there for all to hear and he clearly says everyone is at Modi's feet, including the Army.

But who gets arrested? Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor of Ashoka University. His fault? Saying that the deployment of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh to brief the press was just 'optics'. He chose to bring up the ground reality which, according to him, included victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the BJP's hate mongering. He asked right wing commentators to demand that these victims be protected as Indian citizens. The Haryana State Commission for Women took suo motu cognizance of his remarks and he was arrested on the complaint of BJP Yuva Morcha.

But if Mahmudabad is 'guilty' of trying to inflame passions and incite communal discord, what about Vijay Shah, who is trying to create an 'us' versus 'them' narrative, which is more dangerous and more likely to incite communal passions? Or the trolls who are targeting Vikram Misri and his daughter? Or Jagdish Devda, who degraded the image of the Indian Army by saying that it is at Modi's feet? Yet, in the new India, only those who demand fair play, justice and protection from being targeted for their religion are the ones who get arrested. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.