The FIR against Siddhartha Varadarajan and Karan Thapar By Justice Katju

An FIR ( First Information Report ) has been filed by the Assam police against the well known Indian journalists Siddhartha Vardarajan and Karan Thapar for sedition etc

https://m.economictimes.com/news/india/guwahati-police-summon-journalists-varadarajan-and-thapar-in-sedition-case/articleshow/123390547.cms

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Aug/19/guwahati-police-summons-journalists-siddharth-varadarajan-karan-thapar-in-sedition-case-2

I condemn this act of the Assam police, as it appears to be politically motivated since these two journalists have been critical of the Central Government. However, that having been said, I have something else to add.

Journalists like Siddhartha Varadarajan and Karan Thapar are in my opinion totally superficial. They never go deep, and question the efficacy of the present political system in India, they never ask whether democracy is suited to India, when 90% Indians vote on the basis of caste and religion, totally overlooking the merit of the candidate. 

They never allow others to question whether democracy is a good thing or not. For them democracy is a fetish, a holy cow, never to be questioned.

https://justicekatju.com/questions-which-the-great-indian-liberals-and-intellectuals-will-never-ask-611820d7e469

https://justicekatju.com/the-inanity-and-superficiality-of-the-indian-liberal-and-free-media-3a7c181d78e9

https://www.facebook.com/justicekatju/posts/the-intellectual-bankruptcy-of-the-indian-critical-thinkers-after-reading-the-di/1649629078410965

Of course Siddhartha and Karan are entitled to their opinions, but why should they not allow others to express opinions denying that democracy is good for India ?

https://justicekatju.com/democracy-is-not-a-holy-cow-cdc5941478b5

Why don’t they allow others to say that the Indian Constitution was made to deceive the Indian people into thinking (1) the people are the rulers of India ( democracy means rule by and for the people, as Lincoln said ), when everyone knows that a handful of crooks are ruling India (2) the Indian people have fundamental rights under the Constitution like freedom of speech and expression etc, when poverty is destructive of all rights. What use is freedom of speech to a man who is poor, hungry and/or unemployed ? He wants food and a job, not freedom of speech. So all these freedoms are illusory and a cruel mockery to poor people, and over 75% of the Indian people are poor.

Siddhartha Varadarajan, former Editor of The Hindu, and currently editor of the online portal thewire.in, professes to be a great champion of freedom of speech.
The problem is that while claiming this freedom for himself, he denies it to others. Let me illustrate this with a personal example.

I sent several articles to Siddhartha for favour of publication in thewire.in, in which I said that parliamentary democracy in India is a fraud since it largely runs on caste and communal vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces which have to be destroyed if India is to progress, but parliamentary democracy further entrenches them ( since it runs on their basis ). Our politicians are constantly polarising the people and inciting caste and communal hatred to secure their vote banks. So how can democracy be a good thing ?

 Hence the solutions to India’s massive problems lie not within but outside the existing Constitutional system, that is, by a mighty united protracted people’s struggle, led by modern minded leaders, in which tremendous sacrifices will have to be made, culminating in a historical people’s revolution, after which a political and social order will be set up under which the country rapidly industrialises, and the standard of living of the people steadily rises, and the people get decent lives.

Siddhartha did not even acknowledge these articles, far less publishing them. It seems he gets horrified by such ideas, and he will not permit their publication in his portal. He could have published them with a disclaimer that the publisher does not share the views of the author. He could have started a debate on the topic, and a debate is surely healthy. But no, he will not even permit expression of such ideas, far from having a debate.

So much for this hero of democracy and free speech. He will permit criticism of BJP politicians, but he will not permit criticism of the entire system. The rest of our ‘liberal’ media is no better. They call the pro-govt media as the ‘godi media’, but what is their own performance? Have they ever tried to penetrate below the surface and seen the realities in India ? They praised Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra sky high, though it was just a gimmick. This is why I believe there is no substantive difference between the ‘godi’ media and the ‘liberal’ media. Donon ek hi thaile ke chatte batte hain.

I have written these articles about that empty headed peacock Karan Thapar

Democracy is said to be the best form of government, but, as the Greek philosopher Plato said in his book ‘Republic’, in fact it is the worst. It creates the illusion that the people are the rulers of the country, when the truth is it is being ruled by a handful of crooks. It creates the illusion that the people can choose their leaders, when the truth is the only choice the people have is to choose one among several thugs. Often they will choose the most charming performer, for in a democracy politics is really a theatre, and politicians are actors who promise to give to the people whatever they want ( promises never to be kept but ‘jumlas’, as Amit Shah said ). 

Creating the illusion among the people that they are the rulers of the country, makes the people content, smug and complacent, for why and against whom will you revolt or rebel if you yourself are the rulers ? Will you rebel or revolt against yourself ? So this seductive nature of democracy, its power to create massive illusions which keep the people servile and in poverty and misery, without revolting against the real rulers, makes it the worst form of government, as Plato rightly said.

So I ask Siddhartha Varadarajan and Karan Thapar the question : are Indians fit for democracy, when the mindsets of 90% of them are full of the ‘gobar’ of casteism and communalism ? Should they be given the right to vote, when 90% of them will vote like sheep and cattle on the basis of caste and religion, ignoring the merits of the candidate ? So how does it matter whether the voters list is correct or not ? Is this not irrelevant ?