‘They are lying about it’: Arundhati Roy responds to media outrage over her NPR comments

This is with regard to what I said while speaking at Delhi University on December 25th, 2019 about the National Population Register (which the nation now knows is officially the database for the National Register of Citizens).

I said that in his speech on December 22 at the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi blatantly lied to us about the National Register of Citizens and the non-existence of Detention Centres.

I said that as a response to those lies we should collectively enter ridiculous information when they came to gather our personal data for the NPR. What I was proposing was civil disobedience with a smile.

All the mainstream TV channels that were present have footage of my entire speech. Of course they did not air any of it. They just excited themselves and everybody else by commenting on it and misrepresenting it and lying about it. This has led to calls for my arrest as well as TV crews laying siege to my home.

Fortunately my speech it is up on YouTube.

My question is this: is it ok for the prime minister of this country to lie to us but a criminal offence and a security threat for us people to have a laugh?

Amazing times. Amazing mass media.

Thank you for your attention.