Critics of Indian govt labelled ‘traitors’: Washington Post

WASHINGTON (Washington Post): Critics of India’s ruling party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – are being labelled as traitors while receiving a severe backlash from public and the government alike in the wake of recent escalations between New Delhi and Islamabad since last month, a Washington Post report said.

In an article titled “In India, a search for ‘traitors’ after conflict with Pakistan,” its is stated, “A wave of angry nationalism has swept India in recent weeks, triggered by a Feb. 14 suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian security personnel in the disputed region of Kashmir and then by a military confrontation with Pakistan, the country’s oldest foe.”

The article further points out the negative role played by the Indian media asking “for revenge” and portraying “any questioning of the Indian government or armed forces as equivalent to helping Pakistan.”

“One particularly strident channel recently pushed the hashtag #ExposePakLovers.”

In recent weeks, some of those publicly critical of the government or India’s military have been suspended from their jobs.

The article also notes that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also tagged opposition parties as “disloyal for asking about the efficacy of India’s Feb. 26 retaliatory airstrike on Pakistan.”

The report also reveals that “in recent weeks, some of those publicly critical of the government or India’s military have been suspended from their jobs.”

Incorporating several cases of folks in India slamming the leadership, the report says that all of such critics are being cyber-harassed, trolled and even bullied in real life.

According to a journalist that the American publication quoted, the Indian government had spearheaded a move that “had ‘stampeded the country into a volatile, edgy, anxious nationalism’”.