From May 2014 to July 2022, action has been taken against 648 critics of the government.
There has been a 365 per cent jump in action by Central investigative agencies against political and ideological rivals of the BJP under the NDA government at the centre since 2014, compared to UPA -II, an NDTV analysis has found. Action has been taken against 79 people every year on an average since the BJP came to power. In comparison, under the UPA-II, such action was taken against an average of 17 people a year.
Last year, NDTV had compiled a first-of-its-kind catalogue of all action against political rivals and government critics, which was then regularly updated.
The data is based on reports in the public domain, and looked at any and all action including registering of cases, questioning, raids, filing of chargesheets, arrests etc. by law enforcement and investigating agencies under the Central government -- including the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department, the Delhi Police and also the centrally run J&K administration.
The NDTV analysis found that from May 2014 -- since the BJP came to power -- to July 2022, action has been taken against 648 critics of the government.
Of them, 466 are BJP's political rivals or their relatives or associates.
Others targeted include media persons or media organisations seen as independent or critical of the government, and activists, critics and even bureaucrats who questioned the government.
This is not an exhaustive list, and is based on reports in the public domain. NDTV is also not commenting on the merits of these cases.
Minimum action has been taken against members of the BJP or their allies.
Between May 2014 and July 2022, action has been taken against 514 politicians, their relatives, and associates. Of these 91 per cent are BJP's political rivals. Only 9 per cent or 48, are from the BJP or their allied parties.
Leaders of almost all opposition parties have seen coercive action, but it is the Congress that has taken the biggest hit -- 80 of their members were targeted.
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress came a distant second with 41 of their members targeted. The Jammu and Kashmir-based People's Democratic Party, led by Mebooba Mufti, came in third. Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party was fourth with 19 of their members targeted.
Yesterday, Bengal became the first state to pass a resolution in the state assembly against the "misuse" of the Central investigative agencies. Declaring that the resolution is not meant to condemn anyone, the Chief Minister said it is about being "unbiased".