Skip to main content

Serial raids, arrest of human rights defenders described attempt to create scaremongering

Sudha Bharadwaj
By A Representative
Prominent civil rights activists have protested against“serial raids” across the country on the homes of activists and public intellectuals, followed by arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Kranthi Tekula and others, saying this is “nothing but an attempt by the government to strike terror among those who are fighting for justice for the marginalised.”
Calling it an “attempt by the BJP to invent a false enemy" a statement signed by Admiral L Ramdas, Lalita Ramdas, Shabnam Hashmi Shehla Rashid, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Jignesh Mevani, Teesta Setalvad, Swami Agnivesh, and others, says that it is nothing but scaremongering in order to polarise the 2019 elections in its favour.”
The statement says, “The government and the media houses close to the BJP have been trying to spin a false narrative of a Maoist conspiracy since June, 2018. Terms like ‘urban naxals’ are invented in order to stifle any criticism of the government. We have learnt that the Delhi Police, after having arrested Sudha Bharadwaj, waited for Republic TV to arrive before taking her to the court.”
Terming it “a conspiracy to divert attention from the gravity of the Sanatan Sanstha conspiracy to carry out serial bomb attacks on Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi, the statement says, “The same Sanatan Sanstha was also involved in the murder of Gauri Lankesh, as per the ongoing investigations by Karnataka police.” It adds, “By arresting them, the BJP is only exposing its insecurities and its intolerance to any dissent or criticism of its policies.”

Comments

  1. Pravinsinhji JadejaAugust 29, 2018

    We condemn the arrest of the social and intellectual prominent personalities under pretext of an anti national or a threat to the social harmony

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

NOTE: While there is no bar on viewpoint, comments containing hateful or abusive language will not be published and will be marked spam. -- Editor

TRENDING

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»