Now, Mere Disagreement is Sedition

Many new developments are taking place in Indian politics. One of them is an attempt to equate not just dissent, but even disagreement, dissatisfaction, simply thinking out loud, as sedition that can invite arrest and prosecution. Further, sedition is now being framed not just against citizens who sit on dharnas but against those who post on social media, even if most of what they write or share is just a factual statement, not even a strong opinion. Going way beyond ordinary citizens, the government in power is now charging Opposition leaders with corruption and under sedition laws. Even further, it is accusing its own Members of Parliament of these crimes, should they proffer any criticism of the Prime Minister or the BJP.

Two ministers of the TMC and four MLAs were arrested recently for corruption charges pending against them for a long time. Earlier, Member of Parliament Mukul Roy and a few others who faced corruption charges were threatened but ended up in a happy union with the BJP. After this, the accusation either disappeared or was just not pursued with any urgency. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to this during the state Assembly campaign when she asked if the BJP is a washing machine that washes away all blots of corruption as soon as somebody joins it.

However, this practice is not limited to the BJP. It began much earlier, perhaps in Tamil Nadu, with the infamous incident of a late-night arrest of DMK leader Karunanidhi soon after Jayalalitha assumed power as retribution for getting her arrested over corruption charges. There was a repeated drama of this when Union Home Minister Amit Shah had Chidambaram arrested, yet again in a late-night drama.

This saga has taken on a new proportion altogether in Andhra Pradesh under Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. It is indeed unusual that this comes from a Chief Minister, yet not too surprising. Reddy, the individual leader, is known to be a factionalist who has faced many criminal cases. His father and grandfather passed on this legacy of factional violence; Reddy perhaps cannot think anew to forge a fresh persona just because he has assumed a constitutional position. Instead, events are flowing in the opposite direction. Days ago, YSR Congress Party Member of Parliament Raghu Ramakrishna Raju was arrested after he criticised the Chief Minister. A large number of Telugu Desam Party leaders got served notices, including former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.