NEW DELHI: The arrests on Tuesday of human rights activists by Pune police drew sharp criticism from opposition parties, academics and other human rights activists on Wednesday.

Even though partial relief came from the Supreme Court, the opposition deemed it as a “manifestation of autocracy” and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury called it a “blatant attack on democratic rights in the country”, worse than the declaration of Emergency in 1975.

The CPM leader also alleged that the BJP-led Maharashtra government was trying to protect the real perpetrators of the Bhima Koregaon violence , and was trying, in turn, to harass activists protecting the interests of the dalits who were targeted. “Here there is nothing... no official declaration (of Emergency). This is to be strongly condemned. The CPM demands that all these people, who have been picked up, be released and whatever be the cases against them - in case there are any - let the law take its course. But this sort of harassment - this is something that is not acceptable.”

On Tuesday, raids were carried out by the Pune police in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane, raiding and arresting Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, former PUDR secretary Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and human rights activist Sudha Bhardwaj allegedly in connection with the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon in January this year.

Yechury was joined in his condemnation of the arrests by Left leaders and people from across parties. On one hand, while CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy said the arrests “expose once again the fascistic character of the present government”, president of All India Democratic Women’s Association, Malini Bhattacharya, said, “AIDWA sees this repressive and arbitrary action as a part of the wider politics of silencing dissent and deterring activists, lawyers and intellectuals for raising their voice and organising people against the terror tactics of the Sangh Parivar and its vigilante group.”

Tweeting his view, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he has no sympathy whatsoever for Maoism, but freedom of thought, belief and expression were fundamental rights in any democracy. “To arrest activists who have neither committed nor facilitated violence is to betray our democracy. This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free,” he said.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also condemned the arrests. “I will strongly disagree with those who hold extreme left or extreme right views, but I will defend his right to hold that view. That is the essence of freedom. Anyone holding extreme views is punishable only if he indulges in violence or incites violence or aids and abets violence in support of his ideology,” he added.

Former Bihar deputy CM and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav echoed similar views. He said, “Anyone who defends human rights, raises concerns about atrocities against poor and condemn authoritarian regime is arrested in RSS’s New India. Remember, Fascism will not last longer.”

Dalit leader and Independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani called the arrests a reflection of “nothing less than emergency”. “Had Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Sadar Patel been with us today, they would have surely appeared as lawyers for all these human rights activists who are arrested by Pune police dubbing them as Maoists. This is nothing less than emergency, indeed,” he tweeted.

Economist Prabhat Patnaik said the incident was a “sign of nervousness” of the government as it was losing support of farmers, workers and among people at large. People's Union for Civil Liberties, a human rights body, said they were “nothing but a targeted crackdown and attack by the police and state on civil liberties and democratic rights activists across the country”.

