Some opposition parties that have criticised the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and BJP governments in some states for following authoritarian and intolerant policies in dealing with critics and political opponents are themselves resorting to the same policies and tactics in dealing with their critics and political opponents in states ruled by them. There are many examples of harassment, use of excessive force and slapping of harsh and unreasonable charges by the police against a number of persons in such states. The cases against Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband and MLA Ravi Rana by the Mumbai police last week are in the same class as the unjustifiable cases filed by BJP governments against their detractors. They were arrested and have been booked for sedition following their statement that they would recite ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. Their threat, if it had to be legally acted on, amounted to only a bailable offence. It is ridiculous to see sedition in it. What caused the action against them could only be malice and personal and political enmity for the couple at the highest level in government.
There are other examples also of opposition parties taking the cue from the BJP in their handling of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The Punjab police, now under an AAP government, has arrested former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, Congress leader Alka Lamba and a BJP leader from Delhi, Naveen Jindal. All three have been critics of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. After the communal riots and the bulldozer action in Jahangirpuri in Delhi, the AAP blamed Bangladeshis and Rohingyas for the trouble, just as the BJP did. The difference in its position is that it has said the BJP operated through the outsiders to create trouble. The Congress government in Rajasthan booked a BJP supporter on sedition charges in 2020 for inducing the party’s MLAs to cross over to the BJP.
The misuse of the law by governments and police excesses are not new in the country. All governments have done these in the past. The Modi government at the Centre and the BJP governments in the states have taken these wrong policies and practices to a new level. A political culture in which citizens are punished for exercising their right to protest and other freedoms has become the new normal. Opposition parties have been hypocritical in claiming to oppose these policies as wrong and then practising them themselves. The wrong policies and politics of the BJP cannot and should not be fought on its terms. They can be corrected only with better politics and policies.