P Chidambaram: Arrests of activists an attempt to crush dissent

Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram hit at Bharatiya Janata Party-led Devendra Fadnavis government on Saturday saying the arrests of five Left-wing activists was an attempt to crush the dissent. He accused the government of specifically targetting the activists and alleged that the government is trying to curb the freedom of speech.

While addressing a press conference in Nagpur on Saturday, the senior Congress leader said that holding extreme Right or Left wing views is acceptable in a free country. He added that the problem arises only when there is an incitement to violence. He said, “They (those arrested) are civil rights activists, human rights activists, lawyers, writers and poets. They have extreme Left views.”

Chidambaram was of the opinion that the police crackdown on Left-wing activists was aimed at silencing the critics of the saffron front. He said, “We think this is the attempt to divert the attention of the people from pressing issues. This is an attempt to crush dissent and attempt to instill fear in critics of the government. In a free country, you can have extreme Left view, you can have extreme Right view…that is the essence of freedom. It is only when somebody indulges in violence or invites violence or aids or abets violence that he is committing a crime.”

Condemning the arrest, he said, “We condemn this and we are very happy that the court has intervened and given them some degree of liberty.”

Soon after the arrests of five activists — Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves — the Supreme Court observed the matter on Wednesday and ordered house arrest till September 6. The bench also ordered Maharashtra Police to present the evidence till September 5.

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