The Government That Fears The Flying
A Dispatch from ‘Indian Affairs’
“She was detained at the Mumbai airport” — I got a text message on the morning of 29th March. ‘She’ in this message is Rana Ayyub, a prominent Indian journalist who was on her way to London on a conference tour.
When I received that text, I was in the middle of putting together questions for Rana for an interview that was to happen in the upcoming days here in London. That interview never happened. Rana did not make it here. In the days running up to the day of her flight, I did wonder if something of the sort might happen. But then I stopped myself — is there any realistic chance that an optics obsessed government will risk acting so explicitly against a globally renowned journalist? That too when she was traveling for an international conference and was to meet eminent journalists and lawyers? Turns out, in today’s authoritarian Modi-ruled India, yes.
I had made a miscalculation; in assuming that concerns about optics from their stunt to stop Rana from flying would trump their concerns over what she will have to say about the state of India’s democracy when she does travel. I also overlooked that using legal instruments to their benefit, the government already had a good story in place — at least good enough to convince their supporters — to justify their actions and come out of this largely unhurt. The government need not worry about what a handful of liberals and the rest of the world thinks, because it already had in place an ethos where its base will eat up any story it weaves. Not just eat, but regurgitate it for what they see to be the honourable Hindu cause.
What is the legal case against Rana?
On the basis of a complaint filed by the Hindu IT Cell in September 2021, the Enforcement Directorate, a government agency that looks into tax and finance matters, booked Rana Ayyub for tax fraud, alleging that she had misappropriated public funds collected for charity.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, when the government failed to put relief measures in place and locked down the country without providing necessary support, it was a blow to the economically weak, especially the migrant workers. At the time, Ayyub ran several relief operations to provide food and rations to those who were under economic distress. For that, she set up a Ketto account where she accepted donations that went into running this work. It is funds associated to this that have been called into question.
But Ayyub points out that these claims made by the ED of money laundering are a deliberate attempt to misconstrue realities. In her statement, which was made after the ED called her for various rounds of questioning, she comprehensively details the journey of the funds she received for her charitable work and says:
“It is abundantly clear that no part of the relief campaign fund remains unaccounted for, and there is absolutely no scope for any remote allegation of misuse of the funds for personal expenses. Such allegations are preposterous, wholly mala fide and belied by record, and is a deliberate misreading of my bank statements.”
Her entire statement can be read here.
How does this case link to her fly ban?
Ayyub was stopped from boarding her flight in Mumbai because the Enforcement Directorate suddenly issued a summons notice for her that day. Quickly a narrative was floated that she was running away from the country because of the case against her. And the trolls caught onto this.
Like this:
And this:
But this is far from the truth. Ayyub herself was advertising her upcoming trip for weeks on her social media platforms. The organisations that had invited her, including the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), had also put out announcements. She was clearly going on a trip to attend conferences and was not planning on a grand escape.
It is to be noted that Ayyub was first pursued by the Enforcement Directorate under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), with regard to which it did not find anything and so it let go of the case late last year. Then another case seemed to have been picked up in December 2021 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which seems to be the one running at the moment. As mentioned before, this was pursued based on a complaint filed by the Hindu IT Cell, which is essentially a nationalist troll group that claims to “protect… Dharma legally”. As this article details, they are troll gang that operate under the garb of activism:
No fly for who else?
Rana Ayyub’s case of a fly ban is hardly the only case of a journalist being stopped from flying abroad under this government.
Former chair of Amnesty India, Aakar Patel, was another recent target. [To note that Amnesty India was shut down by the government too; another in the long list of ways in which the Indian government crushes dissent.] Despite holding a Delhi Court order that allowed Patel to fly abroad, he was barred from traveling by The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Patel then took action against the CBI, following which the court ordered it to provide a written apology to Patel.
In both Patel and Ayyub’s case, the court found the arbitrary travel restrictions to be wrong. In Rana’s case, after she was stopped at Mumbai airport, she appealed to the Delhi High Court. And the court lifted the ban, allowing her travel to Italy and complete at least part of her conference tour.
“The Bench of Justice CD Singh on Monday, while lifting the ban on travel restrictions, also observed that she is not accused of siphoning money of thousands of crores”: ANI, published on The Print
Why does the government fear the flying?
This year, Rana Ayyub and Aakar Patel, and in 2019, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy (two other journalists who were stopped from flying abroad). But why?
Because the Indian government does fear for reputation, to some extent. To the extent that its democratic allies will be able to digest and move on. But in a highly interconnected and digital world, such acts of oppression also come to bite because it does inevitably lead to bad press abroad, and to a limited extent, domestically. But of course, this seems like a cost it is ready to pay in order to silence journalists and activists. And also, there are ripples only when a well-known journalist like Ayyub is targeted. Same cannot be said for the rest who do not have the attention of the international community.
In all of the above cases, yes there was certainly some kind of financial/tax issue present. But nothing of substance proven and and none of these journalists/activists were looking to run away. In stark contrast, there are quite a few rich Indian businessmen like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallaya, who committed grave financial crimes, but somehow just managed to escape the country.
So it does look like you only get onto the no fly radar if you are a critic.
