The Modi government seems insistent on sneering at all those who claim its attempt to undermine the freedom of media is not comparable to the censorship and detention of journalists during the Emergency. After all, there still exist today, as veteran journalist N Ram pointed out at a webinar on February 6, “spaces where you can still express condemnation of the executive….” Three days later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided NewsClick, a digital news platform, which, too, belongs to spaces where “condemnation of the executive” takes place: I should know because I often write for it.

ED sleuths were ostensibly investigating NewsClick for laundering around Rs 30 crore over three years, a laughably small sum in comparison to the magnitude of financial scams that often rock India. This cannot, obviously, be a justification to demand immunity from ED raids. Nor was such a plea made by NewsClick, which, as soon as the raid began, issued a statement saying, “Truth shall prevail.”