After Sharad Pawar's plea in Bhima Koregaon case, Sena, BJP lock horns over sedition rule
India Today
NCP chief Sharad Pawar has pleaded before the Bhima Koregaon probe panel that the sedition law must be scrapped. THe BJP said that this was hypocrisy as the Maharashtra government had slapped sedition charge on MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana.
The BJP in Maharashtra has accused the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of indulging in hypocrisy on the issue of scrapping the sedition rule. It raised the issue of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s demand to scrap Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that by slamming sedition charges on Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana, the Maharashtra government, of which NCP is a part, had “laid bare its hypocrisy”.
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BJP leader Ram Kadam said, “Sharad Pawar wants sedition law to be scrapped. But look at their doublespeak. His [alliance] government has slapped sedition charges on the Rana couple. What political scores are they trying to settle?”
The Shiv Sena was quick to react to the BJP charge and said that it was just one case of sedition. Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said, “In Maharashtra, there is only one case of sedition (on the Rana couple). One should see their crime. They tried to spread riots on the basis of caste and religion. They wanted to create division and there was a conspiracy behind it. They had the backing of a political party. Hence, there are grounds for slapping them with sedition charge.”
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Defending the submission of Sharad Pawar before the Bhima-Koregaon commission (to scrap the sedition section) Sanjay Raut accused the Centre of misusing the rule. “I agree with what Sharad Pawar told the Bheema Koregaon probe commission. Injustice has been meted out to several scholars, activists, intellectuals, lawyers, and doctors. Many are facing sedition charges. The Centre has misused it from JNU and UP to Assam,” Raut said.
