A Beautiful Isolation

A new interview, and a thank you

I have been overwhelmed with love and support since my interview with Stephen Sackur on his iconic BBC show, Hard Talk. Journalists, activists, and intellectuals all over this country have been writing to express solidarity with me, and have been (kindly!) concerned about my mental health. To say that the last six months have been tough would understate the case considerably—the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate are investigating me, and I have been charged in two fictitious cases by the UP Police. Officials have forced me to sit for twelve hours at a stretch despite recently undergoing a spine surgery. They have gone through my bank account details going back to 2014 (the same year Modi assumed power, ironically), and I demanded I produce my contracts and sensitive communications with my editors and publishers despite my protests.

A writer friend joked to me that this witch-hunt is belated, given the silence of the government on my 2016 book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-Up, the eight-month account of my undercover investigation into the Gujarat 2002 genocide of Muslims and the Modi government’s complicity in it.

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Many ‘liberal’ friends in India wondered how I escaped the wrath of the regime despite publishing those damning accusations. Some even wondered how I remain alive, while others asked whether I had cut a deal to remain “free” from incarceration. I have often chosen the dignity of silence in the face of criticism—not just from the Indian right wing, but a section of the Indian media that has called me the ‘go-to person for lazy international media’. I attempt to take it all in stride and enjoyed what I call a beautiful isolation away from solidarity with my peers.

Some days it gets overwhelming, some days the anxiety medication has to supplement the generous support from a few friends and family. Since the publication of Gujarat Files, life has not been easy. Many friends, including journalists who once met me in public for dinner and coffee, now insist that I meet them at home. Mainstream publications ask me to join their reporting on the ‘opposition’ and not the ruling government. One of India’s top media personalities recently confessed that he was asked by a minister in the ruling government to not engage me for any of their news shows, and he had to cave in to what he believed was an unspoken threat to his publication/ From the year 2014 to 2019, I have been jobless as the same media publications that offered me competitive salaries lost my number after Modi took power.

Is my journalism a personal battle, or a crusade against Narendra Modi? asked Sackur. In the clip above, I answer his questions and speak about objectivity in journalism—and about being forced to write for international publications instead of Indian media, about the unsung journalists fighting to protect the integrity of the profession, and the government-enabled attacks on the Muslim minority.

You, my readers on this Substack, have given me a very warm welcome, and I wanted to share this interview. Your sustained support is crucial to ensure that I continue to speak the unfiltered truth in the face of everyday intimidation. You, the readers, have made this isolation a lot more bearable.

—Rana