Prakash Karat can only shout: Swamy

A day after Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat attacked the Centre over raids conducted in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that the former can only raise his voice, but will not practice democracy.

"Let him (Karat) shout, it doesn't matter to us. These people can only raise their voice but won't practice democracy themselves. We got information and the government had to act on it. The matter will go before the court, whoever feels it is wrong can have their lawyers and fight their case. This is how democracy functions but Naxals don't understand how it works," Swamy told ANI.

On Tuesday, raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village. Post the raids, five people were detained for their alleged connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Soon after the arrest, Karat termed the raids as a "brazen attack on democratic rights." He further added, "We are demanding that all the cases against these people be withdrawn and they be released forthwith."

Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police. The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B, 117, 120 B, 13, 16, 18, 20, 38, 39, 40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively, while Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.