Testimony “We saw this idea that Western journalists would seek to denigrate India”, testifies Sébastien Farcis, journalist banned from practicing in India

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Sébastien Farcis, correspondent for Radio France, is the fifth foreign journalist to whom India has just refused to renew his work permit.

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Narendra Modi, during a speech in New Delhi on June 4, 2024. (YUKI SATO / YOMIURI)

It’s a familiar voice from Radio France. Sébastien Farcis, correspondent in India for Radio France, RFI, Libération and Belgian and Swiss public radio, was forced to leave the country after a refusal to renew his work permit last March, on the eve of the Indian legislative elections, without no reason was given to him. The case of Sébastien Farcis is an example of the authoritarian drift of a country which is now putting the media under control.

Arriving in India to work thirteen years ago, Sébastien Farcis saw press freedom deteriorate sharply following the coming to power of Narendra Modi. “We have in mind the very authoritarian abrogation of the autonomy of Kashmir, the establishment of very Hindu policies, the repression of Muslims and the arrest of Indian journalists and the progressive ban on work of many foreign journalists “, he lists. The foreign press then becomes one of the favorite targets of Hindu nationalists, the electorate of Narendra Modi.

“We saw this repression intensify with this idea that Western countries and Western journalists would seek to denigrate India because India is rising on the international scene. There would be a sort of conspiracy to prevent this from happening.”

Sébastien Farcis, journalist

at franceinfo

Sébastien Farcis is the fifth foreign journalist to whom India has just refused to renew his work permit. A de facto ban on practicing his profession, and a form of warning which forced him in a few days to leave the country where he was a permanent resident after marrying an Indian woman. The situation is even worse, he assures, for Indian journalists. Seven were imprisoned for working on sensitive subjects. Without trial or indictment, accused of sedition or support for terrorism. A repression which accompanies the end of the independent press.

“The government is close to very powerful, very rich groups, who depend on public contracts, therefore who work hand in hand with the government. With the arrival of Modi, these groups began to buy the media.”

Sébastien Farcis, journalist

at franceinfo

“Unfortunately, this reminds us a lot of what is happening in France with the takeover of media by the Bolloré group which, in fact, has the same profile. Industrial groups close to power with a certain ideology. With the purchase of the last independent television channel in India we really felt the end of a certain journalism, information is nipped in the bud”, develops Sébastien Farcis.

Overly independent journalists chased out of major media, foreign correspondents pushed to leave the country, India, yesterday considered the largest democracy in the world, now occupies 161e place out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking.


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