Independent media outlets and online critics: Far from a safe harbour

Six months after the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a landslide victory, Sanjay Sharma, the editor of an evening newspaper in Lucknow, was summoned by a senior official close to the Chief Minister’s Office.

“The officer told me, ‘The Chief Minister is very upset with you; he thinks you are Akhilesh’s man,’” said Sharma, referring to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was Chief Minister of the State from 2012 to 2017. He was recounting the episode over Zoom at a public policy event in April 2026.