New Delhi: In 2025, in a podcast with US podcaster Lex Fridman, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was his “strong belief that criticism is the soul of democracy.”

In 2018, while interacting with the Indian diaspora in London, Modi highlighted the importance of criticism in a democracy. “It is my conviction, I believe that the beauty of democracy is criticism. I believe the Modi government should be discussed. Only through criticism can democracy become vibrant. If anyone criticises me I consider it my good fortune,” he said. 

“If I stop listening, then how will I make up for my mistakes? Nor will my country prosper. This is why I always welcome criticism,” he added.

In the last few weeks, the Modi government, however, has done just that. It has stopped listening and issued blanket takedown orders to muzzle content on social media that has been critical of the government by invoking the Information Technology Act, 2000. All the takedown orders have only one thing in common: criticism of either the government or Modi himself.

From Facebook pages – of news platforms Molitics, National Dastak, satirist Rajeev Nigam – to posts on X by popular parody accounts @Nehr_who and @DrNimoYadav, several have faced orders to be withheld in India in response to a legal demand.

A spate of takedown orders were issued last week, when Kerala Police cited “insult” to the Election Commission of India to take down posts on X on a poll guideline letter which bore the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seal.

In the aftermath of the AI summit in Delhi last month, a slew of takedown orders were issued on posts that questioned the BJP’s post calling the Indian Youth Congress’s protest at the AI Summit a “national shame”. Also in February, The Wire’s Instagram account was blocked for about two hours after the government found a 52-second satirical cartoon offensive.

On March 30, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) published proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to block news content on social media by users, influencers and content creators, in a move that has been described by advocacy groups as “digital authoritarianism.” The proposed amendments seek to strengthen a system that has been in the works for years, to consolidate in effect a digital censorship regime. 

But why have takedown orders come thick and fast in the last few weeks? And how has this legal censorship regime been put in place?

Backlash on Indian foreign policy and Modi’s Vishwaguru image

According to Neeraj Jha, editor of Molitics, which had its Facebook page taken down on March 29, the Modi government’s high handedness in acting against social media content traces its origins to the BJP’s rise to power in 2014 when Modi became prime minister for the first time riding on a high voltage social media campaign which showed the party its reach and impact. The present crackdown, according to Jha, has its trigger in the criticism around the Modi government’s foreign policy, particularly in the aftermath of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.

“The geopolitical situation has exposed our foreign policy, and the whole claim of the danka (drumbeats) around our foreign policy, has burst like a balloon with a pin in the hands of ordinary citizens on social media,” said Jha.

Recent weeks have seen a proliferation of memes, reels and videos on social media centred around the Modi government’s response to the war in West Asia, which has led to shortage of cooking gas (LPG) cylinders in India, even as the government continues to maintain that there is no shortage of fuel. 

Several popular parody or news commentary accounts, including @Nehr_who, @DrNimoYadav, that were withheld on March 18 have been critical of the Union government over this, among other issues, in their posts, largely taking recourse to satire. 

For instance, a reel by comedian Pulkit Mani which parodied how Modi laughs and greets foreign leaders resulted in the video........

© The Wire