• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the full show

GUEST: Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit-American filmmaker and Transmedia artist, co-founder of the international women’s media technology collective, Third World Majority.

Well-known Indian author Arundhati Roy is facing a criminal trial for contempt of court in an ominous move that reflects an increasingly intolerant atmosphere in the world’s largest democracy. Roy, who is known for her strong progressive views critical of India’s government, could face prison time.

Her trial is only the tip of the iceberg. Recently the high-profile suicide of a promising young PhD student named Rohith Vemula in the state of Hyderabad has led to a deep questioning of how free India’s academics and activists are. Vemula was a member of the historically oppressed Dalit castes and accused of having “anti-national” political sentiments.

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not overtly implicated in these attacks on free speech, his party’s fingerprints are all over them. Modi’s critics warned in 2014 when he was elected, that the Hindu and upper caste supremacist party, the BJP, would enter India into a dangerous era.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/jacuoh/.