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As a young tech person in India, this stuff makes me so angry. The ruling party here (BJP) doesn't have any real competition. Which means they can get away with

As a young tech person in India, this stuff makes me so angry. The ruling party here (BJP) doesn't have any real competition. Which means they can get away with pretty much anything. They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician. Then they'll brand you as an "anti-nationalist" and openly say to their supporters that you deserve to be shot. Facial recognition is now being used to identify protestors. Bots and deepfakes are being used to spread propoganda. Many people are upset, but there's nothing we can do. We can't speak out without fear of being reprimanded. We can vote for other parties, but there's no way that they'll ever win. The majority of the population has blind faith in BJP. The only demographic that appears to realise the implications well enough is the youth in urban areas - a very insignificant fraction of the nation's population. Even the media is afraid to speak out against BJP because if they do then they get attacked by physical and virtual mobs. It's a shame. So much potential.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
They say "anti-nationalist" is a bad thing? Wow.
- legolas2412 7y ago
  They're calling you anti-national. Basically a traitor.
  - _jgdh 7y ago
    For Americans, this is identical to when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was branding people "Unamerican". The BJP have succeeded in establishing their brand of hatred and stupidity as the only valid form of patriotism.
    - _-david-_ 7y ago
      >this is identical to when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was branding people "Unamerican". Communists want to abolish countries so saying that communists are Unamerican seems to me to be an accurate statement.
      - legolas2412 7y ago
        I'm not sure what communists wanted to do that. Care to shed some light?
        _-david-_ 7y ago
        Communists believe countries and governments should be abolished. Seeking the destruction of the American government and country is unamerican.
        legolas2412 7y ago
        That has never been the communist philosophy. Communism seeks to destroy private property ownership and capitalism, because they believe that the profit generated by any business is the right of its workers, not the capital owner. They intend to do that by taking ownership of all resources and property by the state and the state managing all businesses. None of this involves abolishing countries and governments. If anything, communism involves a far more stronger sense of community, patriotism, and a much more powerful government
- truncate 7y ago
  What's worse it is somewhat synonymous to being secular, anti-hindu, or just debating whatever government does. All different things.
- friendly_fren 7y ago
  Why do you think nationalism is bad?
  - riffic 7y ago
    It doesn't have a good track record. Nationalism in all its forms is abhorrent.
    - iso947 7y ago
      Scottish Nationalism seems to appeal to many on the left. Apparently it’s very different to English Nationalism.
  - throwawayhhakdl 7y ago
    https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/an-important-distinction https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/an-important-distinction Patriotism is love for one’s country. Nationalism is the belief that one’s country (and often ethnic subset) is supreme (and more deserving of prosperity), speaking generally.
    - champagneben 7y ago
      Would the formation of Israel be an expression of nationalism? Can it in that light be seen as the belief that one's country or ethnic group is just as deserving as others'? Or to take a more recent example of Kurdish nationalism.
      - boomboomsubban 7y ago
        A desire for sovereignty isn't a belief that your people are supreme. The methods taken creating countries are often nationalistic though.
      - throwawayhhakdl 7y ago
        I’m not especially familiar with those groups but I would think not. Semantics are subjective but I would tend to assume that there’s a pre-requisite that they already be in power, and yet be pushing for tripling down on those power structures. Trump’s campaign rhetoric is emblematic of nationalist themes. Anti immigrant. Playing up cultural mythos. Bragging about military capabilities. Blaming foreign nations for most problems. Implying that a return to core values will bring greatness. Lots of fear and anger. Tends to be very effective for groups of people that used to be powerful but are no longer.
- jdfellow 7y ago
  Since when was India a nation? It's got dozens of languages, two major religions (one of which is more of an ecumenical blending of ancient practices), and many ethnic groups and cultural norms. A nation is by definition homogeneous or nearly so across these variations. By my estimation India is an empire, and nationalism makes no sense in its context. Patriotism maybe, or political loyalty. Just seems like a weird choice of political propaganda. I do understand there's a strong anti-Muslim attitude in India, which might be what they're calling nationalism. But it doesn't seem right.
  - denkmoon 7y ago
    Worth noting that many of those ethnic groups still suffer disenfranchisement under the caste system. Indian/Narendra Modi nationalism is Hindu nationalism.
  - doyoureallytnot 7y ago
    I expect Parent either meant nation as a synonym for "country". nation is defined as: na•tion n. A relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country. n. The territory occupied by such a group of people.
  - hnews_account_1 7y ago
    Hinduism is not "an ecumenical blending of ancient practices". It has well defined rituals, rites and codes. They were simply allowed to be modified as necessary by anyone since the ancients essentially believed in freedom to appease your god as you wanted. The core of Hinduism remains the vedas, gita, the puranas and the upanishads. They lay out a very deep philosophy that theologians much more educated than I am have been investigating for centuries. It is a highly rigid system at its core (contrary to the freewheeling morass image Indians themselves have projected to appear non religious). This is why India is a nation. From the tip of Jammu till the edge of Kanyakumari, people thought of the vedas as the progenitor scripture of all civilisation. They heard the exact same stories of the Mahabharatha and Ramayana for millennia. The fact that they were free to adapt it and retell or embellish it does not mean they broke away from the system itself or that the system emerged later than the stories did.
godelski 7y ago
> deepfakes are being used to spread propoganda. Do you have examples for us? Okay if it is in Arabic/Hindi/etc. We talk about the potential for damage here (on HN) and so I think it is important to have examples of this happening in the wild.
- sabman83 7y ago
  https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-deepfakes-in-indian-election-by-bjp https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-d...
  - mc32 7y ago
    It’s more meta fake (presentational deceit) than fake (factual deceit). Is it fake when a pol speaks token sentences to an audience in a language the pol is very limited in? Is it unfair if a multilingual pol has command of many languages vs one who doesn’t have such command? What is an even field? Natural ability, happenstance of wealth (opportunity to learn) or happenstance of exposure (and natural learning).
- downvoteme1 7y ago
  That is not a deep fake. That is like saying a modified Trump video speaking Spanish to appeal to Latino voters is a deep fake.
  - godelski 7y ago
    I don't think you meant to reply to me. Because I'm asking for examples of these deep fakes...
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    That would be false information- if someone cannot do something, and doctored video is trying to cover for that weakness, then the video is faking it. Ergo, it is fake. Overdubbing a person's voice? Questionable. Making someone look like they're speaking a language they don't know? That's faking it. Using AI to help out with your fakery? That's deep down the rabbit hole
connectsnk 7y ago
I am in Jammu(India) right now and can attest that comments like above are only opinions and not facts. As goes for any country, people keep inventing stuff / leaving crucial details because of their own biases and self interests. The same goes for people who support BJP.
- draw_down 7y ago
  "VPNs are banned" and "facial recognition is being used to identify protestors" are not opinions. Please go away.
- shripadk 7y ago
  Absolutely right. It is ridiculous to think that the Government will not restrict communications in a region that has seen nothing but violence and terrorism for the past 30 years since the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. For the first time in 3 decades the Valley is peaceful. If it comes down to choosing between deaths of innocents by deranged terrorists and cutting communication I would always choose the latter. The Pulwama Attack is still fresh in the mind of Indians and cannot be forgotten or forgiven.
  - owaislone 7y ago
    How many times did you visit the valley in the last 30 years? Please tell us how peaceful or violent it was during your last 5 visits. Please, also tell us how exactly this is bringing peace to the valley and if banning phones and internet for months has been so effective, then why did 1988-95 see the most unrest? If I remember correctly, mobile phones with EDGE/GPRS were introduced to Kashmir around what year? 2002? 2000 to ~2010 were also some of the most peaceful years in Kashmir in the last 3 decades.
    - yumraj 7y ago
      Was it peaceful enough that Kashmiri Pandits could return without fear of being killed? If no, then it was not peaceful..
vivekpandian 7y ago
Interesting. When the media is objective, they are branded as pro-BJP, Sangi, Bhakts etc. It's not fair to expect all the media to spew hate against the ruling government
connectsnk 7y ago
Misleading Title. It is not about using VPN but about propagating rumors. This is a law in India, as there were instances of riots caused by social media rumor. Actual News ----------- The FIR has been registered while taking cognisance of the social media posts by miscreants by using different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario in the Kashmir valley, secessionist ideology and glorifying terrorists, the police said.
iagovar 7y ago
In that case you should Kickstart some media outside India. It's your best bet folks. You have a large talent pool and I'm sure you'll come up with some way of financing it.
mindfulhack 7y ago
> They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician. Thank you for sharing this information. How were you, in your comment above, able to safely criticise the government while in India? (If you are not able to disclose how you did, that's understandable to me. We all know about methods like Tor and obfs4 bridges. I run a Tor bridge to help people in China, hopefully. And now thanks to you, I'm thinking of India too.)
- definitelyRobot 7y ago
  HTTPS, and a throwaway account that cannot be linked to me. I live in an urban area where the internet isn't very restricted (other than DNS-level blocks for porn and piracy sites). The same is not there for the people in Kashmir, who have had very little (and severely restricted) access to the internet in the past eight months or so.
  - marvindanig 7y ago
    Stay safe! BJP or rather RSS is a Nazism driven platform and, like seen in any other country in recent years, people fell for the bait of 'development' and guerilla marketing from bigots of their major religion. This is extremely sad and I am hoping things will correct before everything worsens further. > Many people are upset, but there's nothing we can do. I remember people (not to point to anyone in particular but generally) even the educated ones making fun of a new engineer politician on the rise. There was news about slapping the newbie on their roadshows and rallies where this politician was trying to connect personally with the people. What do you think of that? For someone like me with an outside-in view I feel that we have a 'karma problem' with the general citizenry of India. Not to come off as a prude American (this is also true now for my own country as well-–Trump nation) but democracy is so much like a mirror––and in the end we all get what we deserve.
- foolinaround 7y ago
  While the situation in India is getting worse as others say, it can't be compared to China at all...
prab97 7y ago
This comment has so many factual inaccuracies. 1. Vote share for BJP in urban areas have been consistent with rural areas in the most recent national election of 2019. Source: Official website of election commission of India 2. There are multiple celebrity status people (including journalists, students, politicians) and common people openly complaining against government on Twitter and in public forums and they are all free and continue to do so without the fear of being arrested. Examples: Ravish Kumar, Barkha Dutt, Shehla Rashid, Shashi Tharoor, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Kanhaiya Kumar and countless more. 3. Ruling party has a very strong competition at state level. In India, police report to states (except Delhi) so in general, states have much more power to control law and order than central govt. BJP has lost recent assembly elections spectacularly in Delhi and some other states. 4. People always have reasons to be upset. When J&K was an independent state the people in Jammu and Ladakh were upset because of the corruption, lawlessness and rampant terrorism about which local govt. biased in favor of Kashmir region didn't do anything. Then, Kashmiris were holding Ladakh and Jammu folks hostage.
- definitelyRobot 7y ago
  There is no way that anyone other than BJP will win the election on the national level anytime soon. Congress and Rahul Gandhi is a joke, they've fucked our nation over too much to win again. AAP doesn't have a lot of support outside of Delhi and a couple other states, and the same can be said for all other regional parties. None of them can step up to and beat BJP. It's the unfortunate truth. The police shoot at and kill protestors with no mercy. They will not face any repercussions. A case from just 2018: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi_massacre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi_massacre The nation is dying.
  - shripadk 7y ago
    The Thoothukudi case is for the State Government Police to handle. How is Modi responsible for it? Just because you have an alliance partner doesn't mean that BJP becomes party to it or ordered it. This is what happens when you indulge in hyperbole. It just weakens your own arguments.
pscz 7y ago
>Even the media is afraid to speak out against BJP That is a lie. The Indian media is not afraid to criticize the BJP. I'm not Indian but I am from the same subcontinent and have seen a constant stream of Indian news that are very critical of the current BJP government. Here are some Indian media that constantly criticize the current BJP government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hindu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hindu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(India) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(India)
- definitelyRobot 7y ago
  Not all media, but many (or most) Indian news outlets are.
untempered 7y ago
BJP lost several elections recently- so they do have a competition in politics. I'm in India and use VPN. VPN is not banned. What are you smoking. If speaking against the government lands you in prison then why are you not in a jail right now - Spreading false information and propoganda. If someone like Sharjeel or Kanhaiya want to break India into pieces using political activism then it IS ANTI-NATIONAL. Protestors whothrow rocks or petrol bombs at police should be identofied and put in jail. What propoganda is BJP serving, where can I get it? You spoke your mind on an anonymous forum. Go to Twitter and you can see thousands if not Lakhs of people bashing the government for various issues and nothing happens to them. You have not met the majority, you do not know about them why do you generalise the entire population of India as some mindless robots that BJP uses for elections. You know how much work has been done in terms of stopping terror attacks in the past 6 years. There were blasts in the metro cities once or twice by some random terrorist organisations, now except some hotspots like JK things are relatively calm. Media as usual with their bias is either in bed with the government or bashing them on every single issues. The only issue is that you don't see the full picture resort to falsification to suit your agenda and spread lies.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
gentleman11 7y ago
I’m terrified this is the future of the entire world
nu2ycombinator 7y ago
This is just absurd. India has strong judicial system and no one, not even PM can abuse his power. This commenter has blind hatred against BJP. India is the country where you have freedom to criticize. To verify you can just search internet and YouTube. Regarding identify protestors, I think commenter is referring to recent protest where some people burned public property, who were identified through CCTVs and made them pay for the damage, which was right thing to do.
- deskamess 7y ago
  > India is the country where you have freedom to criticize. To verify you can just search internet and YouTube. “Those who raise anti-national slogans should be put behind the bars,” he said. [1] (he = Amit Shah - Union Home Minister and friend of Modi [the PM]) [1] https://www.thestatesman.com/india/those-who-raise-anti-national-slogans-should-be-put-in-jail-amit-shah-on-jnu-1502844293.html https://www.thestatesman.com/india/those-who-raise-anti-nati...
  - nu2ycombinator 7y ago
    May be this will help you understand the difference. Anti-national != criticize. If you refresh your past memory, kishan kanhaiya raise slogans saying we will break India and he is not in jail. Every one has right to express their opinion but judicial system will take its course. Govt cannot put people in jail just because someone criticized them. That was the point I am making. I can't make it any clearer than this for you
screye 7y ago
> The ruling party here (BJP) doesn't have any real competition That's true, the left opposition has become a lame duck because they choose to be dynastic sycophants rather than an actual democracy / meritocracy. > They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician Yes, but mostly No. The BJP is more petty than the last congress govt. But, my social media is filled with anti-Modi posts posted by public profiles and not a single one of them has faced any repercussions. Also VPNs are only banned in Kashmir. You can criticize something you don't like, without using hyperbole. The hyperbole, when not obvious, only makes your point look weaker. > We can vote for other parties, but there's no way that they'll ever win The congress has literally been in power here for 60/70 years of independence. If for a second, they can stop acting like the most incompetent political organization in the world and actually put a half-decent leader in power, then they can mount some proper opposition. Also, the BJP just lost 4 consecutive state elections and Delhi was lost 60-8. The country is hardly falling in line with Modi. The only problem is the Congress has basically imploded into itself. > Even the media is afraid to speak out against BJP because if they do then they get attacked by physical and virtual mobs. Just saying. This has always been true with MSM in most parts of the world. TOI was notorious for falling in line with whoever was in power. Many older news channels acted like Propaganda tools for the Congress too. I am not surprised at all, that they have all moved over to BJP now that the hand that feeds them has changed. I personally love Shekhar Gupta's work on The Print. He is one of the few journalists disliked by both Congress and BJP, and there is no greater honor in India. I have followed him since his time as Editor in chief of the Indian Express. It was always very high quality, unbiased or the type that declared its bias quite clearly. (like his fondness for Vajpayee) > It's a shame. So much potential. Agreed.
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  Shekhar just had a good video about Ajit Singh Sandhu and the Punjab insurgency.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

They say "anti-nationalist" is a bad thing? Wow.

legolas2412 7y ago
They're calling you anti-national. Basically a traitor.
- _jgdh 7y ago
  For Americans, this is identical to when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was branding people "Unamerican". The BJP have succeeded in establishing their brand of hatred and stupidity as the only valid form of patriotism.
  - _-david-_ 7y ago
    >this is identical to when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was branding people "Unamerican". Communists want to abolish countries so saying that communists are Unamerican seems to me to be an accurate statement.
    - legolas2412 7y ago
      I'm not sure what communists wanted to do that. Care to shed some light?
      - _-david-_ 7y ago
        Communists believe countries and governments should be abolished. Seeking the destruction of the American government and country is unamerican.
        legolas2412 7y ago
        That has never been the communist philosophy. Communism seeks to destroy private property ownership and capitalism, because they believe that the profit generated by any business is the right of its workers, not the capital owner. They intend to do that by taking ownership of all resources and property by the state and the state managing all businesses. None of this involves abolishing countries and governments. If anything, communism involves a far more stronger sense of community, patriotism, and a much more powerful government
truncate 7y ago
What's worse it is somewhat synonymous to being secular, anti-hindu, or just debating whatever government does. All different things.
friendly_fren 7y ago
Why do you think nationalism is bad?
- riffic 7y ago
  It doesn't have a good track record. Nationalism in all its forms is abhorrent.
  - iso947 7y ago
    Scottish Nationalism seems to appeal to many on the left. Apparently it’s very different to English Nationalism.
- throwawayhhakdl 7y ago
  https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/an-important-distinction https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/an-important-distinction Patriotism is love for one’s country. Nationalism is the belief that one’s country (and often ethnic subset) is supreme (and more deserving of prosperity), speaking generally.
  - champagneben 7y ago
    Would the formation of Israel be an expression of nationalism? Can it in that light be seen as the belief that one's country or ethnic group is just as deserving as others'? Or to take a more recent example of Kurdish nationalism.
    - boomboomsubban 7y ago
      A desire for sovereignty isn't a belief that your people are supreme. The methods taken creating countries are often nationalistic though.
    - throwawayhhakdl 7y ago
      I’m not especially familiar with those groups but I would think not. Semantics are subjective but I would tend to assume that there’s a pre-requisite that they already be in power, and yet be pushing for tripling down on those power structures. Trump’s campaign rhetoric is emblematic of nationalist themes. Anti immigrant. Playing up cultural mythos. Bragging about military capabilities. Blaming foreign nations for most problems. Implying that a return to core values will bring greatness. Lots of fear and anger. Tends to be very effective for groups of people that used to be powerful but are no longer.
jdfellow 7y ago
Since when was India a nation? It's got dozens of languages, two major religions (one of which is more of an ecumenical blending of ancient practices), and many ethnic groups and cultural norms. A nation is by definition homogeneous or nearly so across these variations. By my estimation India is an empire, and nationalism makes no sense in its context. Patriotism maybe, or political loyalty. Just seems like a weird choice of political propaganda. I do understand there's a strong anti-Muslim attitude in India, which might be what they're calling nationalism. But it doesn't seem right.
- denkmoon 7y ago
  Worth noting that many of those ethnic groups still suffer disenfranchisement under the caste system. Indian/Narendra Modi nationalism is Hindu nationalism.
- doyoureallytnot 7y ago
  I expect Parent either meant nation as a synonym for "country". nation is defined as: na•tion n. A relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country. n. The territory occupied by such a group of people.
- hnews_account_1 7y ago
  Hinduism is not "an ecumenical blending of ancient practices". It has well defined rituals, rites and codes. They were simply allowed to be modified as necessary by anyone since the ancients essentially believed in freedom to appease your god as you wanted. The core of Hinduism remains the vedas, gita, the puranas and the upanishads. They lay out a very deep philosophy that theologians much more educated than I am have been investigating for centuries. It is a highly rigid system at its core (contrary to the freewheeling morass image Indians themselves have projected to appear non religious). This is why India is a nation. From the tip of Jammu till the edge of Kanyakumari, people thought of the vedas as the progenitor scripture of all civilisation. They heard the exact same stories of the Mahabharatha and Ramayana for millennia. The fact that they were free to adapt it and retell or embellish it does not mean they broke away from the system itself or that the system emerged later than the stories did.

godelski 7y ago

> deepfakes are being used to spread propoganda. Do you have examples for us? Okay if it is in Arabic/Hindi/etc. We talk about the potential for damage here (on HN) and so I think it is important to have examples of this happening in the wild.

sabman83 7y ago
https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-deepfakes-in-indian-election-by-bjp https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-d...
- mc32 7y ago
  It’s more meta fake (presentational deceit) than fake (factual deceit). Is it fake when a pol speaks token sentences to an audience in a language the pol is very limited in? Is it unfair if a multilingual pol has command of many languages vs one who doesn’t have such command? What is an even field? Natural ability, happenstance of wealth (opportunity to learn) or happenstance of exposure (and natural learning).
downvoteme1 7y ago
That is not a deep fake. That is like saying a modified Trump video speaking Spanish to appeal to Latino voters is a deep fake.
- godelski 7y ago
  I don't think you meant to reply to me. Because I'm asking for examples of these deep fakes...
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  That would be false information- if someone cannot do something, and doctored video is trying to cover for that weakness, then the video is faking it. Ergo, it is fake. Overdubbing a person's voice? Questionable. Making someone look like they're speaking a language they don't know? That's faking it. Using AI to help out with your fakery? That's deep down the rabbit hole

connectsnk 7y ago

I am in Jammu(India) right now and can attest that comments like above are only opinions and not facts. As goes for any country, people keep inventing stuff / leaving crucial details because of their own biases and self interests. The same goes for people who support BJP.

draw_down 7y ago
"VPNs are banned" and "facial recognition is being used to identify protestors" are not opinions. Please go away.
shripadk 7y ago
Absolutely right. It is ridiculous to think that the Government will not restrict communications in a region that has seen nothing but violence and terrorism for the past 30 years since the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. For the first time in 3 decades the Valley is peaceful. If it comes down to choosing between deaths of innocents by deranged terrorists and cutting communication I would always choose the latter. The Pulwama Attack is still fresh in the mind of Indians and cannot be forgotten or forgiven.
- owaislone 7y ago
  How many times did you visit the valley in the last 30 years? Please tell us how peaceful or violent it was during your last 5 visits. Please, also tell us how exactly this is bringing peace to the valley and if banning phones and internet for months has been so effective, then why did 1988-95 see the most unrest? If I remember correctly, mobile phones with EDGE/GPRS were introduced to Kashmir around what year? 2002? 2000 to ~2010 were also some of the most peaceful years in Kashmir in the last 3 decades.
  - yumraj 7y ago
    Was it peaceful enough that Kashmiri Pandits could return without fear of being killed? If no, then it was not peaceful..

vivekpandian 7y ago

Interesting. When the media is objective, they are branded as pro-BJP, Sangi, Bhakts etc. It's not fair to expect all the media to spew hate against the ruling government

connectsnk 7y ago

Misleading Title. It is not about using VPN but about propagating rumors. This is a law in India, as there were instances of riots caused by social media rumor. Actual News ----------- The FIR has been registered while taking cognisance of the social media posts by miscreants by using different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario in the Kashmir valley, secessionist ideology and glorifying terrorists, the police said.

iagovar 7y ago

In that case you should Kickstart some media outside India. It's your best bet folks. You have a large talent pool and I'm sure you'll come up with some way of financing it.

mindfulhack 7y ago

> They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician. Thank you for sharing this information. How were you, in your comment above, able to safely criticise the government while in India? (If you are not able to disclose how you did, that's understandable to me. We all know about methods like Tor and obfs4 bridges. I run a Tor bridge to help people in China, hopefully. And now thanks to you, I'm thinking of India too.)

definitelyRobot 7y ago
HTTPS, and a throwaway account that cannot be linked to me. I live in an urban area where the internet isn't very restricted (other than DNS-level blocks for porn and piracy sites). The same is not there for the people in Kashmir, who have had very little (and severely restricted) access to the internet in the past eight months or so.
- marvindanig 7y ago
  Stay safe! BJP or rather RSS is a Nazism driven platform and, like seen in any other country in recent years, people fell for the bait of 'development' and guerilla marketing from bigots of their major religion. This is extremely sad and I am hoping things will correct before everything worsens further. > Many people are upset, but there's nothing we can do. I remember people (not to point to anyone in particular but generally) even the educated ones making fun of a new engineer politician on the rise. There was news about slapping the newbie on their roadshows and rallies where this politician was trying to connect personally with the people. What do you think of that? For someone like me with an outside-in view I feel that we have a 'karma problem' with the general citizenry of India. Not to come off as a prude American (this is also true now for my own country as well-–Trump nation) but democracy is so much like a mirror––and in the end we all get what we deserve.
foolinaround 7y ago
While the situation in India is getting worse as others say, it can't be compared to China at all...

prab97 7y ago

This comment has so many factual inaccuracies. 1. Vote share for BJP in urban areas have been consistent with rural areas in the most recent national election of 2019. Source: Official website of election commission of India 2. There are multiple celebrity status people (including journalists, students, politicians) and common people openly complaining against government on Twitter and in public forums and they are all free and continue to do so without the fear of being arrested. Examples: Ravish Kumar, Barkha Dutt, Shehla Rashid, Shashi Tharoor, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Kanhaiya Kumar and countless more. 3. Ruling party has a very strong competition at state level. In India, police report to states (except Delhi) so in general, states have much more power to control law and order than central govt. BJP has lost recent assembly elections spectacularly in Delhi and some other states. 4. People always have reasons to be upset. When J&K was an independent state the people in Jammu and Ladakh were upset because of the corruption, lawlessness and rampant terrorism about which local govt. biased in favor of Kashmir region didn't do anything. Then, Kashmiris were holding Ladakh and Jammu folks hostage.

definitelyRobot 7y ago
There is no way that anyone other than BJP will win the election on the national level anytime soon. Congress and Rahul Gandhi is a joke, they've fucked our nation over too much to win again. AAP doesn't have a lot of support outside of Delhi and a couple other states, and the same can be said for all other regional parties. None of them can step up to and beat BJP. It's the unfortunate truth. The police shoot at and kill protestors with no mercy. They will not face any repercussions. A case from just 2018: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi_massacre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi_massacre The nation is dying.
- shripadk 7y ago
  The Thoothukudi case is for the State Government Police to handle. How is Modi responsible for it? Just because you have an alliance partner doesn't mean that BJP becomes party to it or ordered it. This is what happens when you indulge in hyperbole. It just weakens your own arguments.

pscz 7y ago

>Even the media is afraid to speak out against BJP That is a lie. The Indian media is not afraid to criticize the BJP. I'm not Indian but I am from the same subcontinent and have seen a constant stream of Indian news that are very critical of the current BJP government. Here are some Indian media that constantly criticize the current BJP government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hindu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hindu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(India) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(India)

definitelyRobot 7y ago
Not all media, but many (or most) Indian news outlets are.

untempered 7y ago

BJP lost several elections recently- so they do have a competition in politics. I'm in India and use VPN. VPN is not banned. What are you smoking. If speaking against the government lands you in prison then why are you not in a jail right now - Spreading false information and propoganda. If someone like Sharjeel or Kanhaiya want to break India into pieces using political activism then it IS ANTI-NATIONAL. Protestors whothrow rocks or petrol bombs at police should be identofied and put in jail. What propoganda is BJP serving, where can I get it? You spoke your mind on an anonymous forum. Go to Twitter and you can see thousands if not Lakhs of people bashing the government for various issues and nothing happens to them. You have not met the majority, you do not know about them why do you generalise the entire population of India as some mindless robots that BJP uses for elections. You know how much work has been done in terms of stopping terror attacks in the past 6 years. There were blasts in the metro cities once or twice by some random terrorist organisations, now except some hotspots like JK things are relatively calm. Media as usual with their bias is either in bed with the government or bashing them on every single issues. The only issue is that you don't see the full picture resort to falsification to suit your agenda and spread lies.

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gentleman11 7y ago

I’m terrified this is the future of the entire world

nu2ycombinator 7y ago

This is just absurd. India has strong judicial system and no one, not even PM can abuse his power. This commenter has blind hatred against BJP. India is the country where you have freedom to criticize. To verify you can just search internet and YouTube. Regarding identify protestors, I think commenter is referring to recent protest where some people burned public property, who were identified through CCTVs and made them pay for the damage, which was right thing to do.

deskamess 7y ago
> India is the country where you have freedom to criticize. To verify you can just search internet and YouTube. “Those who raise anti-national slogans should be put behind the bars,” he said. [1] (he = Amit Shah - Union Home Minister and friend of Modi [the PM]) [1] https://www.thestatesman.com/india/those-who-raise-anti-national-slogans-should-be-put-in-jail-amit-shah-on-jnu-1502844293.html https://www.thestatesman.com/india/those-who-raise-anti-nati...
- nu2ycombinator 7y ago
  May be this will help you understand the difference. Anti-national != criticize. If you refresh your past memory, kishan kanhaiya raise slogans saying we will break India and he is not in jail. Every one has right to express their opinion but judicial system will take its course. Govt cannot put people in jail just because someone criticized them. That was the point I am making. I can't make it any clearer than this for you

screye 7y ago

> The ruling party here (BJP) doesn't have any real competition That's true, the left opposition has become a lame duck because they choose to be dynastic sycophants rather than an actual democracy / meritocracy. > They've banned VPNs. They'll chuck you in prison if you speak against the government or a politician Yes, but mostly No. The BJP is more petty than the last congress govt. But, my social media is filled with anti-Modi posts posted by public profiles and not a single one of them has faced any repercussions. Also VPNs are only banned in Kashmir. You can criticize something you don't like, without using hyperbole. The hyperbole, when not obvious, only makes your point look weaker. > We can vote for other parties, but there's no way that they'll ever win The congress has literally been in power here for 60/70 years of independence. If for a second, they can stop acting like the most incompetent political organization in the world and actually put a half-decent leader in power, then they can mount some proper opposition. Also, the BJP just lost 4 consecutive state elections and Delhi was lost 60-8. The country is hardly falling in line with Modi. The only problem is the Congress has basically imploded into itself. > Even the media is afraid to speak out against BJP because if they do then they get attacked by physical and virtual mobs. Just saying. This has always been true with MSM in most parts of the world. TOI was notorious for falling in line with whoever was in power. Many older news channels acted like Propaganda tools for the Congress too. I am not surprised at all, that they have all moved over to BJP now that the hand that feeds them has changed. I personally love Shekhar Gupta's work on The Print. He is one of the few journalists disliked by both Congress and BJP, and there is no greater honor in India. I have followed him since his time as Editor in chief of the Indian Express. It was always very high quality, unbiased or the type that declared its bias quite clearly. (like his fondness for Vajpayee) > It's a shame. So much potential. Agreed.

selimthegrim 7y ago
Shekhar just had a good video about Ajit Singh Sandhu and the Punjab insurgency.