Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the BJP for a 'vindictive attitude' and backed Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale, after he was arrested in Rajasthan by police from Gujarat over a tweet about prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi last month.
"It's a very bad, and sad (incident). Saket (Gokhale) is a bright man. He is very popular on social media. He has made no mistake," Banerjee said.
"I condemn this vindictive attitude. He (Saket) has been arrested because he tweeted against the prime minister. People also tweet against me... We are really feeling sorry..." the chief minister said at Jaipur airport.
The Trinamool leader was also backed by party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who said his arrest was a 'panic-stricken' reaction by the BJP.
"Fearless... Gokhale stood against the ruling dispensation that trades lives for its own profit. In reaction, panic-stricken BJP got our national spokesperson Saket Gokhale arrested by Gujarat Police. It is their (BJP's) folly to think these acts of intimidation will make us bow."
READ | 'Fearless…': Trinamool's Abhishek Banerjee defends Saket Gokhale
{{/usCountry}}READ | 'Fearless…': Trinamool's Abhishek Banerjee defends Saket Gokhale
{{/usCountry}}Gokhale was detained by police from BJP-ruled Gujarat in Congress-ruled Rajasthan late Monday night; party colleague Derek O'Brien broke the news of his arrest, tweeting police had been waiting and arrested him after his flight landed. Gokhale was on the 9 pm Delhi-Jaipur flight, O'Brien said.
"At 2 am, he called up his mother and told her they (Gujarat police) were taking him to Ahmedabad and (that) he would reach there by noon (on Tuesday). They him make that two-minute call and then confiscated his phone and belongings."
"All this cannot silence the Trinamool and the opposition. The BJP is taking political vendetta to another level," he said.
READ | 'BJP taking vendetta to next level': Derek O'Brien on Gokhale row
The Trinamool's Kunal Ghosh called the arrest 'utterly disgraceful'.
He said the act showed that the BJP is trying to build an 'autocratic nation'.
Gokhale was arrested after a complaint by an Ahmedabad resident claiming he had shared on Twitter what seemed to be a news clipping (that appeared to be from a leading Gujarati newspaper) about a response to a Right to Information query on details of Modi's Morbi visit; it claimed ₹30 crore was spent.
That was swiftly countered by the government; the Press Information Bureau fact-checked the news and called it fake. "No such RTI response has been given."
The collapsed bridge in Morbi district claimed over 130 lives and became a major flashpoint as the state prepped for an Assembly election.
Full Coverage | 2022 Gujarat Assembly election
Despite the negative reactions from that incident, the ruling BJP - criticised by the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party - is widely expected to sweep much of the state's 182 seats and claim an unprecedented seventh consecutive term.
With input from PTI