'Shocked' journalists, student leaders and artistes condemn raids across country on homes of activists critical of ruling party, government
Shehla Rashid
Student leaders, authors, journalists and artistes have condemned the arrests of left wing activists, saying it was a ploy to divert attention from the gravity of the Sanatan Sanstha conspiracy to carry out serial bomb attacks during Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi.
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"We, the undersigned, are shocked by the serial raids across the country on the homes of activists and public intellectuals who are critical of the government and the ruling party," said a joint statement signed by Shehla Rashid Shora, former vice-president, JNU Students' Union, Mohit Pandey, former president, JNU Students' Union, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, author-journalist and many others.
They have demanded the immediate release of the activists and dropping of charges, alleging that the arrests were politically motivated and unjustified.
Scaremongering?
The statement said the arrests of prominent activists and intellectuals are nothing but an attempt by the government to strike terror among those fighting for justice for the marginalised. This is also an attempt by the BJP to invent a false enemy and engage in scaremongering in order to polarise the 2019 elections in its favour.
'Urban naxals'
The state further said, "Already, the government and 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 court. This simply shows that the arrests are incomplete without the accompanying sensationalist media propaganda to demonise activists, human rights defenders and intellectuals."
Creating a spectacle
The activists said the raids carried out at the homes of these activists were aimed at creating a spectacle, as the writings and views of these intellectuals are already publicly known and well-documented. This seems like 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 same Sanatan Sanstha was also involved in the murder of Gauri Lankesh, as per the ongoing investigations by the Karnataka police, said the statement.
"Today's arrests have been carried out in order to give cover to the murderers of Gauri Lankesh," it said, adding that people like Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and others who have been arrested are friends of those who have dedicated their entire lives to the betterment of the Indian public. By arresting them, the BJP is only exposing its insecurities and its intolerance of dissent or criticism of its policies, it said.
The protesters said the arrests were in continuation of the recent attacks on pro-justice voices such as Swami Agnivesh, Umar Khalid and many other student activists from Delhi to Lucknow.
"A BJP lawmaker from Karnataka even advocated the murder of "intellectuals". Both the arrests and the physical attacks on justice-loving people must be seen in a series of attempts to stifle dissent and deny social justice," the statement said.
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