What is the China funding row, linked to the raids being carried out at NewsClick journalists’ houses?
Tuesday morning came as a rude shock to several journalists and news portal NewsClick as the Delhi Police raided the residences of a few scribes as well as the premises of the office.
Abhisar Sharma, linked to NewsClick, confirming the Delhi Police’s raids said on X, “Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone.” Another NewsClick journalist, Bhasha Singh, confirmed the same, writing on the social media platform – “Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure my phone.”
According to The Wire, raids have also been carried out at residences of Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha, writer Githa Hariharan, journalist Aunindyo Chakravarty, activist and historian Sohail Hashmi, and satirist and stand-up comic Sanjay Rajaura.
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A friend of Sanjay Rajaura was quoted as telling the Scroll that authorities arrived at the satirist’s home around 6.30 am. “They barged in like goons and confiscated Sanjay’s phone, laptop and some CDs,” he said. “They did not provide us with any warrant or FIR copy. They only said that they want to investigate all those linked to the Newsclick investigation.”
A PTI news report stated that some journalists linked to the portal, including Urmilesh and Abhishar Sharma, have also been brought to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office, but no one has been arrested so far.
The Delhi Police’s special cell action against the journalists and the website is in connection with a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), filed on 17 August. The case was registered under sections of UAPA, 153A of IPC (promoting enmity between two groups), and 120B of IPC (criminal conspiracy).
This case, according to reports, has its roots in an August report by the New York Times, which alleged that NewsClick had received funds from China to create an “anti-India” atmosphere.
The raids have evoked strong reactions from the Press Club of India, saying it was “deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with #Newsclick.”
As the raids make headlines – one of the officials said that a detailed briefing would take place later – we give you a clear picture of what exactly is the NewsClick case and what had the New York Times reported.
The NewsClickChina row
On 5 August, the New York Times had published a report – ‘A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a US Tech Mogul’ – in which it revealed that tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who finances NewsClick, helped push Chinese propaganda worldwide.
“From a think tank in Massachusetts to an event space in Manhattan, from a political party in South Africa to news organisations in India and Brazil, The Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Mr Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points,” the New York Times had reported.
The report mentioned NewsClick in a single paragraph, saying: “In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Mr. Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick, that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points.”
It cited a particular video which commemorated 70 years of China’s Maoist revolution, remarking that “China’s revolutionary history continues to inspire the working classes and people’s struggles across the world against capitalist exploitation and imperialist aggression.”
The report found that Singham, who founded ThoughtWorks – a global technology consultancy, in the late 1980s and made a fortune working with some of the biggest corporations in the world – was based in China. “Last month, Mr Singham joined a Communist Party workshop about promoting the party internationally,” NYT reported.
The NYT in its report has said that the link between him and the Chinese propaganda is “blurry” but also elaborated on how he was closely related to the propaganda apparatus. For instance, the report states that Singham shared office space with Chinese media company called Maku Group, which says its goal is to “tell China’s story well,” a term commonly used for foreign propaganda. The report adds, “It can be hard to tell where Maku begins and Mr. Singham’s groups end.”
As per the NYT report, he also furthered Chinese interests through a network of nonprofit organisations registered in the US.
Singham has denied that he works at the direction of the Chinese or the Chinese Communist Party.
Following the report, Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Rajeev Chandrasekhar had held a press conference on NYT’s report to claim China, the Indian National Congress and NewsClick are part of an “umbilical cord”.
At the time, NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, had denied the allegations about the organisation functioning as a mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China and termed them as false.
ED findings
It’s pertinent to state that prior to the NYT report, NewsClick was already facing the heat from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). In 2021, the central agency began an investigation based on allegations of money laundering.
In February 2021, the ED had searched NewsClick premises, claiming its probe showed that foreign remittances, allegedly totalling over Rs 76.84 crore, had been received by the portal between 2018 and 2021.
The ED raids then had, according to a report in The Swarajya, also showed regular exchange of emails in connection with the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Furthermore, the agency said that the payments to NewsClick were linked to “specific jobs” like sprucing up China’s role in Africa, where it has attracted charges of high-handedness and predatory capitalism, and defending the Communist regime’s crackdown on Jack Ma, the promoter of online commerce giant Alibaba.
NewsClick’s editor Prabir Purakayastha had then hit out at the crackdown against the news portal. “These investigations by various agencies, and these selective allegations, are attempts to stifle the independent journalism of media organisations – including NewsClick. The Constitution of India under Article 19(1)(a) guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression, a right central to our work,” he had said, as per an NDTV report.
Also read: Newsclick and beyond: Unveiling China’s information warfare tactics in India
The Congress link
When the ED had carried out raids against the portal, the Congress had stood by the organisation and questioned the government’s action, raising the issue of press freedom.
However, following the NYT report, Union Minister Thakur had said, “The newspaper (NYT), about which Congress and opposition parties talk big, has confirmed what India had said two years ago. In 2021, we exposed NewsClick and how foreign hand was working against India,” Thakur had said.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had mounted an attack in Lok Sabha, saying: “NewsClick is anti-national… It is a tukde tukde gang that wants to break India… NewsClick is headed by Purakaystha and he is also the owner… Where did all the money come from, how he gave it to Naxalites, Maoists… Sharma, Rohini Singh and Swati Chaturvedi just to create an anti-India atmosphere… the Chinese have been giving money.”
Rajeev Chandrashekhar said some countries were fanning misinformation in India with the help of some parties and news websites. “These narratives that are put out by platforms like NewsClick and other platforms that are operating in concert are echoed almost blandly in a similar fashion by this political leader, Rahul Gandhi, who goes abroad and says exactly the same things – democracy is under danger, the judiciary is compromised, EVMs are compromised. This is exactly the narrative that these platforms put out,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
