After 49 prominent personalities wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while raising concerns over the increasing incidents of mob lynching, they were charged with sedition and an FIR was filed against them.
As this happened, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemned the decision to charge 49 celebrities with sedition saying that this was equivalent to punish those who have a dissenting voice on the policies of the Narendra Modi-led government.
Writing a letter to the Prime Minister expressing opinions on important matters cannot be constituted as a crime and be termed as anti-national. This is a complete negation of democratic rights and reflects the growing authoritarianism in the country,” asserted CPI(M) in a statement issued by its Polit Bureau.
However, the charges against the 49 prominent personalities were dropped after Muzaffarpur Police gave them clean shit citing that the charges levelled against these individuals were out of “mischief” and “lacked substance”.
While maintaining its ground, CPI(M) stated that it has always opposed the continuation of the Sedition provision which was brought by the British government to silence the freedom fighters including Mahatma Gandhi.
On the occasion when the country is observing the 150th anniversary of Gandhiji, it will be most appropriate to remove this provision from the statute books,” demanded CPI(M).
While hearing a complaint petition against these personalities, a magistrate court in Muzaffarpur earlier found merit in the complaint and ordered the police to register an FIR against the 49 personalities charging them with sedition, hurting religious sentiment and for insulting the country’s image.
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However, during the investigation, the police found no merit in the charges filed against them. The 49 personalities who were charged with sedition included prominent historian Ramchandra Guha and other artists namely Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, Mani Ratnam among others.
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