Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is leading an alliance government in the state, on Tuesday joined the chorus against the arrest of Disha Ravi, the 21-year-old Bangalore-based climate change activist. She was arrested by Delhi police two days ago for allegedly editing and sharing a ‘toolkit’ related to the farmers’ protest on social media. The tribal outfit has termed her detention as yet another instance of the brutal assault on the right to dissent by targeting a youth this time.
Addressing a press conference in Ranchi on Tuesday, JMM’s general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said, “We are heading towards very-very dangerous times under the current regime led by the BJP at the centre. In the last three years, there has been a jump of 200 percent in the number of sedition cases being filed. Activists, social workers, youths, and all those who speak for the public and burning issues in this country are called anti-nationals. Sedition charges are being slapped on them. This time a young climate activist is being targeted. Ironically, they fail to prove charges in the court, however for the cases to be over and the victims to be released it takes months.”
He added that BJP’s modus operandi has been to terrorise people to divert attention from core issues. “The current arrest is to deflect the attention from the farmers’ protest against the three black laws brought by them which aims at privatising farmlands. However, the country’s farmers aren’t going to fall prey to it this time,” said Supriyo. He even appealed to the masses to start raising their voice against the saffron camp.
“JMM has decided to not sit silent anymore against the atrocities unleashed by the BJP government,” he said. He added that they are planning to launch a massive campaign against the rising fuel and LPG prices. “BJP’s slogan for 2021 is abki baar, petrol-diesel 100 ke paar. Agle saal, 200 paar. LPG prices has also witnessed a steep rise. BJP claims having distributed crores of LPG connections to the poor under the ujwala yojana, but they should tell how many have refueled it. With unplanned lockdown breaking everyone’s backbone and derailing the economy, how can people afford such hefty prices?” he said.
