New Delhi: In a recent turn of events, police arrested nine students from Kerala on Sunday, for using seedy remarks against Prime Minister . The students, studying at Sree Krishna College, were let off on bail soon said the police.



According to media reports, the arrested students included the editor of the college magazine where the content was published and his team- sub editors and editorial advisory committee members.



All the students were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 153(wantonly giving provocation, punishment for defamation and printing matter known to be defamatory).



Warning signs for Modi’s India?



In Karnataka, an Aam Admi Party member was arrested for allegedly circulating a negative remark on Prime Minister . In Goa, an FIR was filed against a man for forwarding messages which contained content against Modi. In Pune, a Muslim IT professional was brutally killed because of people taking offence to some morphed pictures of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and Shivaji. And, recently, college students from Kerala were arrested for putting Modi’s picture in the list of “negative faces”.



Barely a month into becoming the Prime Minster of the country, the shades of intentions of Narendra Modi’s government have landed on precarious grounds. Modi, who has had a secretariat rise to power, has been in question for remaining silent on the roots of his ascend- Freedom of Speech and Expression.



The recent turn of events has only resulted in people questioning the PM’s stand on the very foundation of democracy. The fact that the free speech sonar has gone berserk is a cause of concern for one and many. Modi, himself a regular on social media sites including , and has always been in the spotlight for being tech savvy, and vocal about the freedom of speech.



How social is India on Modi?



Modi had earlier joined netizens in protest against the previous government’s decision to block certain hate speech sites and Twitter handles.



But the recent resurgence of events, which have been touted as “the hues of dictatorship” by the citizens, has brought Modi’s ‘virtual’ activeness as merely a political gimmick.

Recently, a few prominent personalities including Mallika Sarabhai, Aruna Roy, Mrinal Roy, Romila Thapar issued a joint statement criticizing the aforementioned incidents and calling it “blatant attacks on freedom of speech and expression” and demanded that constitutional rights be protected.



Such a statement by people has also not yielded any statement on behalf of the Bhartiya Janata Party ( ). Except for a statement by Pune BJP member, Anil Sharma, none of the senior BJP members have issued a statement. Sharma had called the reaction to such incidents as ‘natural’.



While the country has seen incidents of intolerance towards speeches, posts, comments and pictures, it is a grave question on the minds of the normal citizen- is Modi silencing the nation?

Anti Modi supporters have taken these tragic incidents to substantiate their ‘dictator’ status to Modi. Previous deplorable stands by the BJP on free speech still lace the minds of people- many members had resented the IT Act earlier.



Modi’s silence can be seen as a pressure of being the new Prime Minister. But this silence might cost him the trust of the masses, on which he has powered his giant rise. Modi’s supporters have elevated him to an almost immortal figure, where no comment against him would be tolerated. The only person who can stop this detrimental hero worship is the Prime Minister himself.