Sofia was arrested at Thoothukudi airport and remanded to judicial custody on Mon-day for sloganeering, “down with fascist BJP regime” at Tamilisai, which resulted in a massive uproar in the state with most of the state political parties, except the BJP and ruling AIADMK, condemning the arrest. 

Stalin who expressed solidarity with Sofia and dared the government to arrest him by posting “down with fascist BJP” on Twitter, on Tuesday issued a statement condemning the arrest and demanding the state to immediately withdraw the case against the student and allow her to pursue her research. 

Stalin also urged the government to act on the complaint given by Sofia’s father and book the BJP men who had threatened her at the airport to end the act of saffron party members who sow the seeds of hatred. Remarking that it was the democratic right of every citizen to criticise any government in the country, the DMK working president said the act of the state BJP president has jeopardized the demo-cratic right of the citizens and people’s faith in holding contrarian views. 

Stalin also said that it was a dangerous trend to see a party leader refuse to understand the senti-ments and threaten a student with law. He also expressed shock at the state BJP leaders and its hate-speakers not realising that the peace and communal harmony in the state could be disturbed by their atrocities in the benami AIADMK regime.

Slamming the BJP-led NDA government for arrest of a woman research scholar for shout-ing slogans against the Narendra Modi government, the Congress on Tuesday said incidents like this symbolised an ‘undeclared emergency’ in the country and charged the present regime at the Centre with trying to destroy the very ‘idea of India.’

Talking to reporters here, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “A woman was arrested after she called the BJP government at the Centre fascist on a flight in the presence of Tamil Nadu BJP pres-ident, Tamilisai Soundararajan.”

“In a sign of unbridled arrogance, the state BJP chief filed a case against the woman who was arrested by the state police.  She was send to 14 day judicial custody. If sending a woman to a 14 day judicial custody is not undeclared emergency then what else is. It is not just an assault on the freedom of speech and expression and our fundamental rights. It is also an attack on the Constitution and democ-racy and on the very idea of India. It is fascism playing out in its fullest glory,” he said

Pointing out that this was the second such incidents in a week, the earlier being the arrest of five rights activists by the Pune police from different parts of the country in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, Tewari said it was a part of a process by the present government to stifle all voices other than that of the BJP/RSS.

“This is a pattern that has been playing itself out since 2014, starting with the assault on students of FTII, Pune, the attack on Rohit Vermula, halting of the screening of a Kashmiri film in IIT Delhi and the vilification campaign against the JNU,” he said. 

Tewari added, “It is becoming increasingly clear that the battle for 2019 is going to be between fascism represented by the BJP and democracy represented by the pluralistic forces in society. It is not merely the replacement of a government, 2018 will be a battle for the very soul of India.” 

The student raising slogans against fascist BJP is reflective of the mood of youth. The BJP needs a course-correction. The AIADMK government has detained the student in haste 

All politicians are liable to be arrested if raising slogans and criticising in public are crime.

ThE people in power should have tolerance to criticism. They should not crush the voice of the people. Otherwise there is no meaning in democracy. It will be a dictatorship