Pawan Khera arrest: ‘Harassment Modi style’ says Congress

Congress leaders on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the arrest of party’s media and publicity head Pawan Khera after he was disembarked from a Raipur-bound IndiGo flight.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said that Khera’s arrest ahead of the party’s plenary session was “harassment pure and simple-Modi style”.

Khera, who had boarded the IndiGo plane along with other Congress leaders, was asked to disembark and was detained by Delhi Police. He was subsequently arrested by Assam Police in connection with his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior police officer said.

Terming the action outrageous, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, “Pawan Khera has done nothing warranting deplaning, arrest or detention.”

“If all they can accuse him of is a joke about the PM, this is flagrant overreach. We have no crime of “lese-majeste” in India. How can you arrest a political figure for a verbal barb?” he tweeted.

The action against Pawan Khera led to extraordinary scenes of protest at the tarmac by Congress leaders. Nearly 50 Congress leaders, all supposed to board the Raipur-bound Indigo flight, sat on dharna, forcing the authorities to deploy a large number of CISF jawans near the tarmac.

Khera moved the Supreme Court seeking relief in multiple FIRs lodged against him in Assam, and Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Varanasi for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Modi.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Khera, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud. The CJI said the matter will be heard at 3 PM today itself after the conclusion of the constitution bench hearing in the Maharashtra Shiv Sena case for the day.