Activists, civil rights groups demand end to 'political acts of vendetta'

Author Arundhati Roy and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani along with several other civil society members today demanded action against the Maharashtra police for launching a "vicious and malafide attack" against human rights activists across the country and called for an immediate end to "such political acts of vendetta".

The arrests of the five activists, in a nationwide crackdown on Tuesday, highlights the violation of all due procedures and is a mockery of the legal system, said a joint statement signed by over 30 civil society groups.

The signatories to the statement include Roy, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, activists Aruna Roy, Bezwada Wilson and Mevani among scores of others.

"It is a coup against the Constitution. It is a very dire situation, potentially more dangerous than the Emergency," Roy said at a press conference organised by The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).

She said there is an attempt to "overturn the Constitution, to declare that this is an upper caste Hindu Rashtra in which all minorities and everyone else who does not agree with the majoritarian point of view is criminalised."
Referring to the recent surveys conducted by media groups and other organisations showing falling popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, Arundhati Roy said, "We are living in dangerous times and there will be a ruthless and continuous attempt to divert attention from the reasons for this loss of popularity and to fracture the growing solidarity of the Opposition."
Speaking at the press conference, Bhushan said, "What is happening in the country? Lynch mobs have been let loose...Those who have lynched people are let go off."
At the press meet, Aruna Roy said, "The Constitution has been violated...This indicates that any sort of opposition will be dealt with harshly."
Arundhati Roy also raised the issue of the investigation of the Karnataka police into the killing of Gauri Lankesh, saying it had "unveiled several Hindu right-wing organisations like the Sanatan Sanstha... how many of these groups do we know about. With the elections coming, what plans do they have in store for us."