On November 26, 1947, a little over three months after India’s independence, Mahatma Gandhi presciently cautioned that use of media by a ruling party for its own propaganda and image building would usher in dictatorship. He said this while dealing with a complaint that the Congress party was employing radio for broadcasting information about itself and its activities. “If the Congress uses the radio, etc., like this for its own propaganda, it is bound to bring about dictatorship in the end,” he warned.Media and Emergency, then and nowDuring the 19 months of Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1975 to 1977, the media was controlled by her government for propaganda and image building. There was censorship and newspapers faced coercive action for not following government diktats. These measures were taken using emergency powers enshrined in the Constitution. L.K. Advani, then part of Jan Sangh (now BJP), famously said that when media was asked to bend, it crawled.During the 11 years of Modi’s regime, there has been no official proclamation of emergency, yet the status of media is worse than during the Emergency period of 1975-77. The essence of Mahatma Gandhi’s warning – that if the ruling party used media for propaganda it would lead to dictatorship – is being played out more viciously during Modi’s tenure, with adverse consequences for democracy and the Constitution.The ruling dispensation now ruthlessly uses media for propaganda without ifs and buts. Applying Gandhi’s yardstick to ascertain the advent of dictatorship, it can be said emphatically that Modi’s regime has made Gandhi’s apprehensions a dreadful reality.Modi and management of mediaWhen Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister was asked by the BBC about lessons learnt while dealing with the bloody riots that killed many Muslims in 2002, he did not say how more lives should have been saved. Rather, he said emphatically that he should have better managed the media – which had reported about the riots and his leadership during those communal conflagrations.What India has witnessed during 11 years of Modi’s regime is ruthless management of media – mainstream TV channels, a large section of print, electronic and even social media – to serve as toolkits for boosting Modi’s image, indulging in BJP propaganda and peddling hate-filled, fabricated news. Described as ‘Godi media’, these outlets have become BJP mouthpieces, with Modi’s regime engaging them in marketing information as a commodity and spewing anti-Muslim venom to transmit narratives aimed at communal polarisation.Also read: Democracy in Retreat: Comparing the Emergency with Modi’s IndiaBy aggressively promoting Modi’s brand image rooted in Hindutva, this sinister use of the media is aimed at destroying India’s constitutional vision, imperilling secular and pluralistic traditions anchored in composite culture. Such manipulation points to deepening dictatorial trends alarmingly flagged by Gandhi in 1947.By contrast, during the 19-month Emergency, censored media was never used to divide society along religious lines as is being done now. Indeed, so important were the values of secularism and socialism to the people of India that Indira Gandhi sought to burnish her credentials by incorporating the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Constitution’s Preamble, with the Supreme Court recently upholding the constitutional validity of that action.No control after Emergency vs elected dictatorshipMedia was controlled during the 19-month Emergency by Indira Gandhi’s regime. After it was lifted in 1977, all media restrictions were removed and Lok Sabha election dates were announced. Media and opposition parties functioned freely, and Indira Gandhi’s regime was defeated by the Janata Party. The Janata Party collapsed within two and a half years due to opposition against Jan Sangh (now BJP) members simultaneously retaining RSS membership. Indira Gandhi’s Congress defeated the Janata Party in the 1980 general elections.During the last 11 years, Modi, a former RSS pracharak, has been controlling the state apparatus. Without formal emergency declaration, a large chunk of media units are controlled, used or regulated by Modi’s regime to ensure the relentless circulation of propaganda. Legal luminary Rajeev Dhawan, sharing thoughts on the Constitution’s 75th anniversary, painstakingly observed that India has been reduced to an “elected dictatorship”.In the press freedom index, India occupies the 151st position among 180 countries. This low ranking has been accompanied by coercive measures against journalists, many arrested using draconian laws. A news platform like NewsClick has faced raids by agencies including the police and the enforcement directorate.Recently, without notice, Modi’s regime blocked access to various YouTube news channels and also to The Wire‘s website. The Wire was told access would be allowed only after removing a news item reporting India’s military aircraft losses during Operation Sindoor, quoting CNN. Access was restored only when editors agreed under duress, with a caveat that the removal order would be legally challenged.Journalist Siddique Kappan was arrested in UP for performing his journalistic duty to report the rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras. The way in which blocking orders are issued, internet shutdowns imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and the shutting of the Srinagar Press club there reflects the regime’s dictatorial impulses.Gandhi’s warning about ‘newspaper men’The flip side of the targeting of independent media is the freedom given to the Godi media to transmit communal content.In 1926, Mahatma Gandhi described newspaper men as a “walking plague” after one Abdul Rashid killed Swami Shraddhananda by reading hate-filled newspaper items. Gandhi wrote that India would lose nothing if such newspapers were boycotted. During the past 11 years, fake news has driven individuals and mobs to murder citizens in the name of faith and food. Even the Supreme Court has stated that hate-filled narratives are aired on TV channels for better TRP ratings, yet hardly any action has been taken against channels spewing venom with impunity.In 1977, people rose to vote against Indira Gandhi. Today, when Modi has created an ecosystem far worse than her Emergency, India’s voters need to rise again.S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.