Two Left-wing intellectuals said today the arrest of five prominent civil rights activists in police raids across several states showed that the BJP-led central government was nervous about losing support among people.
Criticising the government for arresting Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj for their suspected Maoist links, the Left intellectuals told reporters that the government was trying to create an "atmosphere of emergency".
Two more people were arrested yesterday. They are: activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
"It is the sign of nervousness of the government because of the fact that they are loosing support among farmers, workers and among people at large. Because of which, it is very important to conjure up an enemy and to create an atmosphere of emergency of terror, or a threat to society," economist Prabhat Patnaik said,
"One way of doing this is to blow up the idea of urban Maoists. And when especially they say that the prime minister's life is been attacked...it creates a kind of sympathy wave. But I am very sure that it would backfire on them," Patnaik said.
He said he knows each one of the activists arrested, personally.
K Sachidanandan, former secretary of Sahitya Kala Acedemy, attended the media meet, organised to urge people to join a workers and farmers rally on September 5 in Delhi.
The two are part of the coordination committee for the rally.
They urged every distressed section of society to unite against the "oppressive" government and added that the rally would be the first such effort to bring people together.
"The alliance of all these classes, who are the joint victims of neo-liberalism, is the primary instrument to overcome the neo-liberal order. It is also, therefore, the primary instrument to overcome the conjuncture which sustains the forces of communal-authoritarianism, that currently rule the country," Sachidanandan said.
The September 5 rally is organised jointly by Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India Kisan Sabha and All-India Agricultural Workers' Union.
Organisers claimed that more than three lakh people will be mobilised for the rally.
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