Inconvenient messages

Political intimidation of media has become a norm

Indian politicians are fond of expressing their pride in the country’s status as the world’s largest democracy. Few of them, however, appear willing to accept the basic values that go into sustaining a democratic culture. Freedom of the press is at the forefront of them and it is with good reason that it was backed by well-established constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech. In an evolving and complex polity like India, the ability to speak truth to power should be nurtured as a valued privilege. Last week’s arrest of G Bala, a cartoonist, in Tamil Nadu showed, however, that for