Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Eshwar Khandre and MLA for Basavakalyan B. Narayana Rao condemned the Bidar police for slapping sedition charges against the Shaheen School. They termed it an attempt by the government to suppress the voice of the people.
In two separate, but similar, statements released on Sunday, the Congress leaders defended the schoolchildren who staged a play on the theme of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) during the annual day celebrations at the school.
“More than 70% of the people in the country are opposing CAA, NRC and NPR (National Population Register), which pose a threat to democracy and people’s interests... In a democracy, everybody has the right to oppose measures that are against the interests of the country. People are protesting and organising big rallies and demonstrations against CAA, NRC and NPR. The government is resorting to all measures to suppress the protests and curb the voice of the people... Booking a sedition case against Shaheen School for its kids staging an anti-CAA and anti-NRC play is the latest example for it,” they said.
They also hailed the school as a secular institution offering education to students of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Farsi and other communities without any discrimination. “No incident that could hurt the sentiments of anyone or any community has happened at the institution for the past three decades,” they said.
They demanded that the government withdraw the case immediately. “The sedition case filed against Shaheen School should immediately be withdrawn. The government should stop its efforts to curb freedom of speech. Otherwise, we will have to start a protest,” they said.
The sedition case was filed on January 26 following a complaint lodged by Neelesh Rakshyala, an activist who alleged that some of the dialogues delivered by the schoolchildren in the play amounted to “insulting” Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some of the characters in the play were heard opposing NRC by asserting that they would not show documents to prove their citizenship.