CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Sunday announced that his party would hold week-long protests across the country against the alleged intimidation of Opposition leaders and journalists critical of the Narendra Modi government.

Addressing a media conference here, Bhattacharya said the decision to hold protests from October 9 to 15 was taken during a central committee meeting of the party.

“We took serious note of the manner in which those running the portal NewsClick were booked under the stringent UAPA on the basis of a mere two lines that appeared in a New York Times report. Even those who contributed articles were picked up for interrogation. Equating journalism with terrorism sets a dangerous precedent,” Bhattacharya said.

He expressed concern over reports that the journalists who were questioned by the police were asked about their coverage of the farmers’ movement and the anti-CAA protests and pointed out that the confiscation of laptops and mobile phones reminded him of the “hounding of social activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, in which one of the arrested social activists, Stan Swamy, died in jail following an illness that was made worse by old age and incarceration”.

“For two years, an ED investigation against NewsClick has remained inconclusive. In the Bhima Koregaon case, activists were framed on the basis of incriminating material planted on their confiscated devices with the help of the Israeli software Pegasus. We fear that similar tactics will be employed in the NewsClick case,” Bhattacharya alleged.

He also condemned the recent crackdown on leaders associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamul and the DMK, which rule Delhi, Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively, and are a part of the INDIA coalition.

“The week-long protests will also be against the politics of vendetta. Moreover, as a constituent of INDIA, the CPI(ML) Liberation is committed to making all efforts for strengthening the coalition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” Bhattacharya said.