Eight AAP workers arrested in Gujarat for putting up anti-Modi posters

Eight workers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been arrested for allegedly putting up posters saying Modi Hatao Desh Bachao in different parts of Ahmedabad city in Gujarat, police said on Friday.

The Gujarat unit of AAP condemned the arrests saying the action has proved their point that "democracy is in danger".

In a release, the city crime branch said eight persons have been arrested on the charge of damaging public property by putting up posters with the text Modi Hatao Desh Bachao in areas like Isanpur, Maninagar, Vatva, Narol and Vadaj. The posters were put up by the AAP workers on Thursday, it said.

The arrests were made on Thursday night after the registration of first information reports (FIRs) in different police stations earlier in the day, said the release.

Police have identified the AAP workers as Natwar Thakor, Jatin Patel, Kuldeep Bhatt, Bipin Sharma, Ajay Chauhan, Arvind Chauhan, Jivan Maheshwari and Paresh Tulsiani.

AAP's Gujarat vice president Sagar Rabari said though the party posted such posters in many other states on Thursday, only Gujarat police booked their workers.

Ahmedabad is the only city where people are deprived of their Constitutional rights because police can arrest you anytime and book you as per their whims and fancies. This police action proves that our apprehension that democracy is in danger is not misplaced and we were not wrong in carrying out that poster drive, said Rabari.

In last year's Gujarat Assembly elections, AAP won five seats and secured 13 per cent of the popular vote, in a performance that belied its high-decibel campaign in the state. BJP registered a record 156 wins in the house of 182 seats.