Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday expressed his happiness after Pawan Khera was granted an interim bail by the Supreme Court after he was forcibly deplaned at the Delhi airport and subsequently arrested by the Assam police over his remarks against PM Modi.
Pawan Khera arrest live updates
"The BJP government tried to harass Pawan Khera. I am happy with the Supreme Court order granting bail to Pawan Khera. It's a tight slap on their face, I condemn this action by BJP, ANI reported quoting Kharge as saying.
The party president also said that in Parliament, the opposition was stopped from raising key issues. He alleged that the BJP's central government is trying to eliminate freedom of speech.
Slamming the arrest of Khera, the party president said, "When the opposition raises issues in Parliament, they are given notices. On the eve of our plenary session, raids are conducted on our leaders in Chhattisgarh. Today, our media department chairman was forcibly deplaned and arrested. The Modi government has converted India's democracy into a Hitlershahi. We strongly condemn this dictatorship", tweeted Kharge.
On Thursday morning, Khera, along with several Congress leaders, had boarded an IndiGo flight from Delhi for Raipur, where the party's plenary session will take place from Friday. Before the flight could take off, Khera was asked to deplane. All Congress co-passengers deboarded the flight and protested on the tarmac itself.
{{/usCountry}}On Thursday morning, Khera, along with several Congress leaders, had boarded an IndiGo flight from Delhi for Raipur, where the party's plenary session will take place from Friday. Before the flight could take off, Khera was asked to deplane. All Congress co-passengers deboarded the flight and protested on the tarmac itself.
{{/usCountry}}Kharge also slammed the ED and I-T raids being conducted on the party leaders in Chhattisgarh ahead of 85th plenary session of the Congress’ central decision-making body. He said that the BJP wants to stop the session from happening but people of Chhattisgarh are working towards conducting this session.
In a press conference on February 17, Khera while taking a jibe at PM Modi, had referred to the prime minister as ‘Narendra Gautamdas Modi,’ instead of ‘Narendra Damodardas Modi'; Damodardas Modi is the name of the PM's late father.
Read here: ‘Your bag has a wrong tag’: How Pawan Khera was taken into custody
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided the offices related to three departments of the Chhattisgarh government in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal levy scam in the state. Earlier on Monday, the ED raided premises linked to eight Congress leaders after which the party launched a protest.