Urban Naxal: Labeling to malign

Eminent historian Ms. Romila Thapar

“We were all born Indians, lived as Indians all our lives. (The five arrested) activists are fighting for good causes and terming them urban naxal is a political move,”  the eminent historian Romila Thapar said. She asked government to define the phrase “urban naxal”, saying either they do not understand the meaning of the term or the activists like her do not.

She petitioned the Supreme Court against the house arrest of five Left-leaning activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha and said these are the people who are fighting against social injustice. The five activists have been under house arrest since August 29. Supreme Court in its judgement on Sept 28, 2018 refused to interfere with the arrest of the five rights activists.

“We were all born Indians, lived as Indians all our lives. These activists are fighting for good causes and terming them urban naxal is a political move.  First ask the government to define the term urban naxal and then tell us how we fall into this category.", she said. 

Politicians including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have referred to the five activists as “urban naxals”. “Any democratic institution cannot take law into its hands. It has to go through a certain procedure. Arrests are the last step of a probe it is not the first step of an investigation,” Ms. Thapar said. "Arbitrary arrests on implausible charges means the police can walk into our homes and arrest us — either without a warrant or a warrant written in a language we don’t understand and then accuse us of activities about which we know nothing.”

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When the state takes itself too seriously, it begins to suspect all dissent. Labelling helps in defining and maligning opponents. It also helps obfuscate the issues and distract public attention.  It is a political strategy of “labelling to malign”. Urban Naxal is today’s label and Anti-National was a label popularized by BJP in the recent past. We are now at a juncture when disliked dissent is sought to be suppressed through legal subterfuge and clever naming. Labels such as anti-national and urban Naxal are glibly employed by Modi regime that seeks to become overbearing both in law and the sphere of ideas.

Varavara Rao & 4 others arrested - Arbitrary crackdown

Deccan Chronicle | Hyderabad | 29-8-2018

Virasam leader Varavara Rao (77 years), lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested on 28-8-2018 by the Maharashtra Police for their alleged involvement in organising Elgaar Parishad, suspected with Maoist links, earlier this year in Pune. They were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A) and according to the FIR, provocative speeches were made at the event, and these triggered the violence in Bhima Koregaon.

• The National Human Rights Commission observed that "it appears that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to violation of their human rights."
• He’s almost 80 years old. I don’t know how he will hold up in prison, said Hemalatha, Varavara Rao’s wife, as she broke into tears.
• This entire plot is devised to garner Hindutva support. Modi is already losing support and he wants to gather sympathy by stating that a Hindu leader is going to be killed. This Bhima Koregaon, an assertion of Dalits is a barricade to the Hindutva politics, so they want to taint it, said Kurmanath.
• This is a witch hunt and an attempt to divert attention from the failures of the current government, questions that are being raised about demonetisation, the Rafael deal, and right wing extremism, said historian Ramachandra Guha.
• The Hyderabad High Court bench of Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice T Amarnath Goud gave the direction while hearing an urgent plea filed by Hemalatha wife of Varavara Rao. Seeking counters from DGPs of Maharashtra and Telangana, the bench said that it would declare the arrest illegal if their counters did not disclose a valid case against the writer. “If it is found that police did not follow due procedure, we will intervene,” the bench said while adjourning the case to next week. 
• The Supreme Court today (29-8-2018) said the five people arrested yesterday in connection with the Bhima Koregaon investigation should be kept under house arrest till Sep 6, 2018 - the date of the next hearing in the case.
• Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst, said the Supreme Court bench, which comprised Chief Justice Dipak Misra, and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.

The recent multi-city crackdown on human rights activists and left-leaning intellectuals and academics is in violation of fundamental rights. It was totally unjust, but sought to be justified on the pretext that they working against the country’s interest. But the fact remains that they championed the cause of the country’s impoverished people. It would be a sad day for Indian democracy when the defense of the weak and vulnerable is treated as a crime.