Daily Times

A state lawmaker in India was arrested for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet, officials said Friday, raising concerns over freedom of speech in the world’s largest democracy. Jignesh Mevani, a prominent campaigner for India’s marginalised low-caste Dalit community, accused the Hindu nationalist leader of idolising Nathuram Godse, the assassin of India’s independence icon Mahatma Gandhi. Some fringes of the Indian right wing revere Godse as a hero for killing the man they blame for the partition of India and Pakistan — comments that Modi himself has criticised in the past. But Mevani wrote in a tweet earlier this week that Modi “worships and considers ‘Godse’ as God”, accusing the prime minister of fomenting religious division. He also demanded that Modi apologise for communal violence in Gujarat, where Mevani is a member of the state legislature. He was arrested Thursday on accusations of attempting to disturb “public tranquility and peace”, the police told AFP. He was taken across the country to Assam in India’s northeast, where the complaint had been filed, and a court in Kokrajhar denied him bail, ordering him to be held in custody for three days. Freedom of speech is enshrined in India’s constitution and Mevani’s lawyers called the arrest “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. The tweet in question has been taken down by Twitter in India following a legal complaint.