Mallikarjun Kharge slams BJP on Ashoka University professor's arrest: ‘How fearful is it…'
Mallikarjun Kharge said he “condemns any character assassination, vilification, trolling, harassment, unlawful arrest of any individual."
Condemning the arrest of Ashoka University's professor, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the Congress on Monday said that it shows how “fearful” the Bharatiya Janata Party is of any opinion it doesn’t like. The party also called out the BJP for not sacking its Madhya Pradesh minister, Vijay Shah, who made “disgusting” comments about Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
In a strongly worded post on X, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The arrest of Ashoka University professor, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, shows how fearful the BJP is of any opinion, disliked by them.”
“I condemn any character assassination, vilification, trolling, harassment, unlawful arrest of any individual and vandalism of any business entity, either through fringe elements or through official state machinery,” he said.
Kharge also mentioned other incidents of trolling related to the current conflict with Pakistan following the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 people dead, including Himanshi Narwal, the wife of a Navy officer killed in the attack.
“This follows a chain reaction which began from targeting the grieving widow of our martyred Naval officer, our Foreign Secretary and his daughter, and the deplorable disparaging comments made by a BJP Minister for a serving Colonel in the Indian Army,” Kharge added.
"Instead of sacking their own Madhya Pradesh's Deputy CM & Minister, who made disgusting statements against our valiant Armed Forces, BJP-RSS is hellbent in casting a narrative that anybody who represents Pluralism, questions the government or simply performs his professional duty in the service of the nation, is a threat to its existence,” he added.
Ashoka University professor approaches Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently hear this week Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad’s petition against his arrest over social media posts related to Operation Sindoor briefings.
Mahmudabad was arrested on Sunday, days after the Haryana State Commission for Women took suo motu cognisance of his comments. Mahmudabad had described the initial media briefings on ‘Operation Sindoor’ by women officers -- Col Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh -- as “optics” and “just hypocrisy”.
