Senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and P Chidambaram, slammed the government on Sunday for reportedly arresting people who had put up posters criticizing the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Arrest me too,” Rahul tweeted on Monday while sharing the poster which read: “Modi ji hamare bachchon ki vaccine videsh kyon bhej diya (Why did you send our children’s vaccines abroad?)”.
According to The Indian Express, a senior Delhi Police official said that about 25 FIRs have been filed so far in the case.
Several others, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, have criticised the arrests, calling them evidence of a “lawless society gone amuck.” “I am astounded and surprised. You may strongly disagree, but under what jurisdiction, what statute, and what force will anyone who put up posters, such as auto drivers, printers, and daily wagerers, be arrested? This, like the arrest in UP of a man who was grieving over the death of his father, smacks of a lawless state gone wild!” he wrote on Twitter.
“The poster asked a simple question of the PM: why did you export the vaccines meant for our children? Even before the PM could answer, the loyal Delhi Police answered with arrest.” He added, “There is freedom of speech. Except, when you ask a question of the Honourable Prime Minister.” P Chidambaram, a senior member of Congress, has tweeted.
Congress chief Jairam Ramesh, on the other hand, went ahead of the pack, announcing that he would post the posters on the compound wall of his home and requesting that the Delhi police and Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrest him.
The arrests were also met with outrage by the Trinamool Congress and the CPM.
The Indian Express went to the homes of two of those detained and monitored police stations throughout the capital, discovering that all of those arrested were either daily wage employees who put up posters and banners for a living or jobless youngsters who had no idea what was going on.
Rahul Tyagi (24), who lives in Mandawali in East Delhi, one of the districts where four people were arrested, said he was issued 20 banners by workers at AAP councillor Dhirender Kumar’s office on May 11 and offered Rs 600 to set them up in Kalyanpuri. “My parents are dissatisfied and will not want me to work any longer.” Tyagi had said, “I only do this for sustenance.”
Investigating officers said those who were picked were primarily involved in printing or putting up the posters for a paltry sum, while a probe is still on to track who commissioned them.
