Rahul Gandhi protecting Naxalism in his zeal to oppose Narendra Modi, says BJP

The BJP on Wednesday slammed Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who dubbed as 'undemocratic' the arrest of five Left-wing activists for their alleged links with Naxals by the Pune police.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. (Photo: PTI/File)

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday slammed Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who dubbed as 'undemocratic' the arrest of five Left-wing activists for their alleged links with Naxals by the Pune police. Addressing a press meet here, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said two of the activists were arrested when Congress was in power for their alleged Naxal links. Gandhi now does not agree with the stand of his own government and is calling them 'champions of human rights', Patra said, noting that then prime minister Manmohan Singh had called Naxalism the biggest threat to the country's internal security. The BJP stands by people's right to dissent, but not "disintegration of the motherland", he asserted. While the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government pitched for legal action against Naxal sympathisers who were penetrating urban areas and worked as front organisations of Maoists, Gandhi is "most troubled" when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has acted against them, Patra claimed. "It is a new low for the Congress. It is working to finish off itself. It is no longer a mainstream party, but has become a fringe party...Naxals are Naxals when you arrest them, but they become HR (human rights) activists when we arrest them," the BJP leader said. Meanwhile, the Pune police have also submitted a report to the Home Ministry in connection with the raids and arrests of activists, sources said. The Pune police told the ministry that the UPA government had, in December 2012, identified 128 organizations with linkages to the banned CPI (Maoists) and written to all the States asking them to take action against people involved with these organizations. "Seven of those Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Mahesh Raut arrested so far belong to the organisations appearing in this list," it said. Those who were arrested on Tuesday are: Varavara Rao (President, Revolutionary Democratic Front), Sudha Bharadwaj (Vice-President, Indian Association of People's Lawyers), Gautam Navlakha (Leader, People's Union for Democratic Rights), Vernon Gonsalves (ex-Secretary, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI/Maoist) and Arun Ferreira (ex-Member, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI-Maoist). (With inputs from PTI)