Bengaluru, February 17: The last two days have witnessed a series of protests in the city by people, especially students, against the arrest of environment activist Disha Ravi in the ‘toolkit’ case.
Members of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, staged a protest on Tuesday, with the students shouting slogans and also demanding the release of Disha.
On Monday, a similar protest was staged by members of the All India Students’ Association, wearing black masks and slogans of ‘Free Disha Ravi’. The protesters also carried placards that stressed, ‘Standing for Farmers is not Sedition’, and ‘When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty’.
Historian Ramachandra Guha, who participated in a protest on Monday, said that people are being persecuted merely for expressing their points of view. People are also arrested for participating in non-violent protests.
Congress leader D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday that India was becoming authoritarian and asked the people must awaken to this fact. The arrest of Disha, he said, was an attempt to weaken to moral strength of the nation’s youth and tag expression of dissent as illegal.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah questioned the use of the term sedition for support of farmers who are protesting. He also condemned the act of the Delhi police, which, he said, was politically motivated.
They have condemned the manner in which the Delhi police arrested Disha and said that the charges against the climate activist were frivolous. The alumni called the targeting of a supporter of the nation’s farmers as horrifying and unacceptable. They demanded Disha’s release and also support to Disha by the Bangalore police and the state government.
