Gujarat Samachar and the Modi Era's War on Press Freedom: How Political Arrests and Fear Tactics Threaten Democracy
So, Ravish Kumar kicks off the discussion by talking about the recent arrest of Babubhai Shah, the 73-year-old owner of *Gujarat Samachar*—a major Gujarati newspaper around since 1932. The arrest is tied to a 25-year-old financial case, which critics are calling politically motivated. The timing’s super shady, right? It happened just weeks after Shah’s brother’s wife passed away, while the family was still grieving. Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi and AAP’s Chaitar Basava are slamming this as an attack on press freedom, accusing the Modi government of silencing critics instead of addressing real issues, like the recent security lapses in Pulwama.
Ravish points out how agencies like the ED and Income Tax Department raided the newspaper’s offices for hours, yet found nothing incriminating. Instead, they dusted off this decades-old case to make the arrest. The newspaper’s editors claim Shah was pressured to “confess” to unproven charges. What’s wild is that *Gujarat Samachar* isn’t some small outlet—it’s a historic paper that even supported India’s