Is the Arrest of Gujarat’s Media Owner Part of a Pattern?
Gujarat Samachar Has a History of Questioning Governments
May 18, 2025
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The recent detention of Bahubali Shah, co-owner of Gujarat Samachar, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has led to accusations of political vendetta. Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have condemned the move as part of a pattern of intimidation against media critical of the government.
Gujarat Samachar has a long-standing history of critiquing the current government. The newspaper recently criticised the central government over the diplomatic “embarrassment” caused by the U.S. announcing a “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan, as noted by The Telegraph.
Shah, 73, and also co-owner of Gujarati news channel GSTV, was taken into custody on May 16, a day after ED officials conducted raids at premises linked to him in Ahmedabad. While the agency did not disclose the grounds for detention, media reports suggested allegations of money laundering—though these claims remain unverified.
Responding to Shah’s arrest, the Congress party wrote on X: “The attempt to silence Gujarat Samachar is another conspiracy to suppress the voice not just of one newspaper but of the entire democracy. When newspapers that hold power accountable are locked, then understand that democracy is in danger... The country will neither be run by sticks nor by fear – India will be run by truth and the Constitution.”
Media outlets critical of the government have faced investigations over economic offences or income-tax violations previously, too—often in cases dating back years or even decades.
In Bahubali Shah’s case, the action stems from a 2016 money-laundering case, according to The Federal, which also reported that Principal District and Sessions Judge K.M. Sojitra granted bail to Shah on a personal bond of 10,000 rupees.
It can reasonably be inferred that the court did not treat the case as very serious at this stage, based on the relatively low personal bond amount. In criminal proceedings, especially involving financial offences, a low bond often suggests that the court did not consider the accused a flight risk or the alleged offence to warrant stricter bail conditions.
In October 2023, the ED searched the office of NewsClick in Delhi for 37 hours and raided the residence of its editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha. The portal had given sustained coverage to the 2019–20 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) among other things.
In July 2021, income-tax officials carried out raids across five states on the offices of the Hindi-language newspaper Dainik Bhaskar. Like Gujarat Samachar, this group had also been critical of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis and had reported extensively on the Pegasus spyware surveillance controversy.
Earlier, in 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided NDTV’s offices and the home of its founders, Prannoy and Radhika Roy.
Several press bodies, including the Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps, have condemned these repeated actions as a “witch-hunt.”
Governments would do well to heed history, which has repeatedly shown that efforts to silence critical media often backfire—undermining both legitimacy and stability.
In Turkey, for instance, after the 2016 failed coup attempt, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government shut down over 150 media outlets and jailed dozens of journalists. While this consolidated short-term control, it deeply eroded trust in institutions and fuelled international criticism. The country’s press freedom ranking plummeted, and independent journalism moved online or abroad, out of state reach but no less potent.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s regime has spent years targeting independent outlets—from Novaya Gazeta to TV Rain. The result is a domestic media landscape dominated by state-aligned voices, but the vacuum has only intensified reliance on foreign media and driven more Russians to encrypted platforms for reliable information. The control is tight, but credibility is fractured.
Even Nixon-era America serves as a cautionary tale. The administration’s efforts to suppress The Washington Post and The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers case not only failed but invigorated the press and accelerated Nixon’s eventual political downfall.
The same was true in Sri Lanka, where successive governments—especially under the Rajapaksas—attempted to silence dissenting voices in the media. This only deepened the public’s cynicism toward official narratives and accelerated political disillusionment.
Efforts to suppress the press often trigger unintended consequences—rising public distrust, international isolation and the very instability such tactics aim to prevent.
Press freedom calls for analogical reasoning—for deeper, more personal reflection, such as imagining what restrictions on it might look like within a family.
If the government were a family, the latest incident would be like the head of the household locking up the elder sibling for disagreeing at the dinner table. The rest of the family—especially those who look up to this elder for wisdom or a sense of balance—are then warned not with words but with action: “This is what happens when you speak out.”
Imagine a household where the father doesn’t explain why someone is being punished but insists it’s for the family’s own good. Soon, no one dares to speak. The atmosphere is stifled, conversations cautious, and truth quietly replaced by compliance. A healthy family thrives on openness, disagreement and the freedom to question authority.
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