Intellectuals condemn arrest of activists, call it ‘perilous, chilling, fascist’

Hindustan Times: The arrests of human rights activists in nationwide police raids was “absolutely chilling” and a “virtual declaration of emergency”, said opinion makers on Tuesday.

“The simultaneous statewide arrests are a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic,” Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy told news agency PTI.

“That lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals are being arrested on ludicrous charges… while those who make up lynch mobs and threaten and murder people in broad daylight roam free, tells us very clearly where India is headed,” said Roy.

Roy alleged anybody who speaks up for justice or against Hindu majoritarianism is being made into a criminal. “What is happening is absolutely perilous. In the run up to elections, this is an attempted coup against the Indian Constitution and all the freedoms that we cherish,” she said.

Roy and other were speaking about the Pune police raiding lawyers and activists in five states across India in connection with their investigation into alleged Maoist links. More here.

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