Arundhati Roy is being hounded by the Indian state. This is a test case for its democracy

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That the author could be prosecuted for comments made 13 years ago is absurd – but also a deadly threat to freedom of speech, asks poet Meena Kandasamy

Arundhati Roy at a protest by journalists at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on 4 October 2023.Arundhati Roy at a protest by journalists at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on 4 October 2023.That the author could be prosecuted for comments made 13 years ago is absurd – but also a deadly threat to freedom of speechcountries in the press freedom index, but the actions of prime minister Narendra Modi’s government in the past few weeks have shown how many more clampdowns await.

Unleashing the state machinery against Roy shows that the Modi regime has crossed the Rubicon. In millennial speak, no other Indian writer has similar flex on a global level. The legal proceedings set to be launched against Roy are therefore a testing ground. Once the regime realises that it can go after Roy without a big reaction, it’s open season on all publishers, editors and authors. What’s more, the scourge of self-censorship already tempers any potential criticisms of the state.

 

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