Newspaper Article

Indian authorities target critic of Modi

Barstow, David

2015

Overview

Soon after, the state of Gujarat joined the rush to jail Ms. Setalvad, recipient of one of India's highest honors, the Padma Shri Award. The state filed an affidavit in the Indian Supreme Court accusing her and her husband, Javed Anand, of perpetrating a \"colossal fraud\" -- to wit, raising $1.1 million \"in the name of riot victims\" only to siphon most of it to pay themselves exorbitant salaries and splurge on luxuries. The affidavit, while neglecting to mention that the Ford Foundation and other funders have found no evidence of financial wrongdoing, dwelled at length on the couple's \"conspicuous consumption,\" noting, for example, that they had eaten at a Subway, and, in boldface type, describing the purchase of sanitary napkins. In news outlets sympathetic to Mr. [Narendra Modi], however, the recent legal barrage is portrayed as an overdue comeuppance for an \"anti-Hindu hatemonger\" who uses foreign money to spread \"antinational propaganda.\" The public outcry, Mr. Modi's allies say, only proves that Ms. Setalvad is once again using her celebrity -- in Indian newspaper headlines she is often simply \"Teesta\" -- to shield herself from legitimate inquiries. Ms. Setalvad, 53, comes from eight generations of lawyers. Her grandfather, M.C. Setalvad, was India's first and longest-serving attorney general. Her father, Atul Setalvad, was a renowned lawyer in Mumbai. Ms. Setalvad said it was Watergate and \"All the President's Men\" that inspired her to pursue journalism instead. \"I still have the book,\" she said.

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Jafri, Ehsan / Modi, Narendra / Setalvad, Atul