The uproar over the arrests of five activists for their alleged involvement in the Maoist activities and inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra has gained momentum in the political arena too. Hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Welcome to the New India’ comment, Union MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju advised Gandhi to ‘keep national security above politics’.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra police arrested — Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves — for their alleged connection with the violence at Koregaon Bhima in Maharashtra on January 1, when Dalits had clashed with upper-caste Marathas. The police carried out raids at Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad, reports NDTV.
Commenting on the arrests, Gandhi had said that that the Union government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is attacking the NGOs and activists so that they can promote Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He took to Twitter and wrote, “There is only place for one NGO in India and it’s called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon”
Keeping mouth shut for hours, the Union government finally rose from hibernation and made an appeal to Gandhi to ‘keep national security above politics’. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju recalled the former PM Manmohan Singh’s comments on Maoists and tweeted, “Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had declared that Maoists are No.1 threat to India’s internal security. Now the Congress president openly supports the front organisations and sympathisers of the Maoists. Keep national security above politics.”
Even the CPI (M) secretary Sitaram Yechury had alleged the that activists are being targeted. He tweeted, “Ever since the Bhima Koregaon violence against Dalits, the Maharashtra Police along with central agencies have been targeting Dalit rights activists and lawyers who have been taking up their cases. This is a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties.”
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra told the petitioner of the activists — arrested after the multi-city raids over allegations of links to Maoists — to present their case at 3:45 pm on Wednesday. The petition has been filed by eminent historian Romila Thapar and will be presented by the senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and some others in the Supreme Court.
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