Hossen Sohel: Maoist ideologue and writer P Varavara Rao was arrested in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports NDTV.
Police said, they arrested five activists, including Rao, on Tuesday for alleged Maoist links but Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the government just wanted to “jail all activists.”
Rights groups and media reports named the other four as human rights lawyer Vernon Gonsalves, writer and lawyer Arun Ferreira, journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha, and trades unionist Sudha Bharadwaj.
Police seized a letter in June in which the name of Rao, 78, had cropped up. The writer of the letter was identified only as ‘R’.
A plot to kill Modi is reportedly mentioned in the letter. It also mentions the requirement for Rs8 crore to procure an M-4 rifle and 400,000 rounds of ammunition to execute the plot.
The letter reportedly mentions Varavara Rao’s name, according to the NDTV report.
Rao, who heads ‘Veerasam’, an association of revolutionary writers, had strongly denied the allegations. He had said all five arrested in the case were working for the betterment of the oppressed.
Academics and authors have termed the arrests as “absolutely chilling” and “virtual declaration of emergency.”
Amnesty International and Oxfam’s Indian sections released a joint statement calling the sweep “disturbing” and questioning whether the five persons had been detained for their rights work, according to AFP.
Author-activist Arundhati Roy, an outspoken critic of Modi, said the arrests were an attempt to muzzle freedoms ahead of next year’s polls.
“They should raid those who make up lynch mobs and murder people in broad daylight. It tells us very clearly where India is headed. Murderers will be honoured and celebrated,” she said in a statement.