Opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Friday batted for repealing the colonial-era sedition law. Mr. Sinha, who was in the Chhattisgarh capital to campaign for the July 18 election, said that such a law had no place in the country.
To a question on the misuse of Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code [that defines sedition as bringing or attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government and criminalises it, even attracting a life imprisonment for the violation], Mr. Sinha said he was of the view that it should go.
"[The provision] 124A should go and I believe that most people would agree with me that it should no longer be a part of our legal system. This is a colonial-era law that should be repealed. However, a President can only advise the government and can't repeal the law himself/herself," he said to a question on his stance and the remedial measures he would take if he got elected.
There have been several instances of the alleged misuse of the said law. Successive governments in Chhattisgarh, irrespective of the political party in power, have faced allegations of slapping the law indiscriminately even for minor violations or any criticism of the government or its policies. Among the more recent case is of Rajnandgaon resident Mangilal Agrawal, who was booked under IPC 124A in 2019 for a Facebook post criticising the State government for power cuts and that it was being done to push inverter sales. Nearly a year before that, when the BJP was in power, Bastar-based journalist Kamal Shukla was booked under the same law for sharing a cartoon pertaining to the controversial death of CBI judge B.H. Loya on social media.
Both these cases had caused outrage and the case against Mr. Agrawal had been dropped after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed his displeasure. The list, however has been long with activists, journalists and even former IPS officers, being at the receiving end. Mr. Baghel was also present at the press conference where the question was put to Mr. Sinha by a journalist who highlighted the grievance of the community in the State due to the constant fear of the controversial law.
Numbers favourable
Meanwhile, estimated numbers look favourable for Mr. Sinha in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. The party has two Lok Sabha and four Rajya Sabha MPs, apart from 71 MLAs in the State Assembly, giving the Opposition candidate a clear edge over NDA’s Droupadi Murmu. Ms. Murmu has the support of the BJP’s nine Lok Sabha MPs, one Rajya Sabha MP, apart from 14 MLAs. The Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which have five MLAs between them, have also pledged their support to Ms. Murmu.
Asked if Ms. Murmu's tribal identity would hamper his chances in a predominantly tribal State like Chhattisgarh, Mr. Sinha said that for him it was a battle of ideology rather than identity. Responding to another question on the outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind, Mr. Sinha said the latter's appointment did not necessarily benefit the Dalits.
The former Union Minister also reminded the gathering of his association with Chhattisgarh as he got married in Bhilai six decades ago. He made light of his wife Neelima Sinha’s earlier remark that the NDA candidate was a good choice. “It’s gracious of her [Ms. Sinha] to call the NDA candidate good and I also agree that she is good. But the question here is who is a better candidate,” he said, evoking laughter.
Mr. Sinha came down heavily on the Centre for misusing the Central agencies, mainly the Enforcement Directorate, for vendetta against political opponents. He expressed fears that those political parties who earlier endorsed his presidential candidature and later made a U-turn, did so under pressure from the ED.
