Diversion Ahead: 'Urban Naxal' narrative and many other red-herrings

As elections approach, the ruling party is bound to be asked inconvenient questions on demonetisation, GST, lack of job creation, sharp rise in fuel prices, and the rupee's precipitous fall

A lie has no legs but a scandal has wings – or so the old adage goes. The government knows its lie about ‘Urban Naxalites’ has no legs but the scandal surrounding the arrest of some eminent human rights activists has taken wing.

The controversy about ‘Urban Naxalites’ was quite likely, ‘war-gamed’. The institutional response of the Supreme Court and the public furore over the arrests were quite predictable. This is why it is not enough to see the arrest of six human rights activists on June 6 this year and of five others on August 28 as only an ambush