The ‘Greta Thunberg’s toolkit’ scandal and rule of law in India

The prosecution of activists for sharing a solidarity toolkit reflects the deepening institutional crisis in India.

On February 14, India witnessed an unlikely Sunday afternoon visual – the doors of a courthouse in New Delhi flung open and a young woman, accompanied by police officers and confronted by a horde of journalists, emerged with her head bowed and eyes prickling with tears. Twenty-two-year-old Disha Ravi, an activist and a founding member of the India chapter of Fridays for Future – a global movement for climate justice supported by Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg – was on her way to prison. She had been arrested for allegedly editing and sharing an advocacy document in support of farmers who have been protesting across India against newly formulated laws that they believe will threaten their livelihood. The document in question was a toolkit for those who want to express solidarity with farmers and, from the contents available in the public domain, it appears it contained no more than the sort of explainers, calls to action, and links to further information that documents commonly used to mobilise protests online usually contain. Except this toolkit made its way to Thunberg, possibly via Ravi, who shared it in a now-deleted tweet.