Nothing to write home about here

they accuse of involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence of January 1 this year.

The so-called letter of conspiracy they seem to have recovered from the computer of one of the arrested activists, sharing details of a plot to assassinate Narendra Modi in a “Rajiv Gandhi-type of killing”, actually comes from a Facebook post of the man who lodged an FIR against the Bhima Koregaon violence and is a known left and Dalit baiter. That letter just does not hold water.

Even if one were to ignore the fact that no conspirator would leave an unencrypted letter like that lying around in his computer, the fact that even 90 days later the letter is not part of the chargesheet against these activists quite gives the game away, even without considering that such a conspiracy against a highlevel target is not left to a state police to investigate. A conspiracy of this nature is immediately escalated to higher investigating agencies, which has clearly not happened.

That press conference brought about a rap on the knuckles of the Maharashtra police by the Bombay high court for violating the laws in a matter that was sub judice. This really has to be their nadir and it is obvious why, where and who this is coming from and I am doubly saddened that while one chief minister (Sharad Pawar) had attempted to instil an element of pride in his police force over their handling of the Naxal issue in the jungles, another is rubbing their noses in the dirt just to settle political scores with ideological rivals in the safer environs of the city.

But if one is critical of the state police, what does one say about prosecutors who fantastically claimed that these activists, being labelled as urban naxals, were actually forming an “anti-fascist” front to defeat the government?

Who briefed these officers? Was it a Freudian slip or an admission on the part of the current dispensation that the government we have today is fascist and not democratic? Or was it a Pavlovian reaction by various officers connected to the government who have been conditioned not to use their minds and react in a particular fashion?

Whatever it may be, it is a sad fall for a state which has always led by example. Who would want to follow this example?