Criticising the BJP government led by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for filing sedition cases against students and poets for merely opposing the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, KPCC spokesperson S.M. Patil Ganihar has said that neither Mr. Modi nor BJP is India.

“We have reached a dangerous situation in the country where even talking against the Prime Minister on any policy is treated as treason today. People are being arrested and put behind bars for raising objections to any government policy”, he alleged.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, he wondered why cases of sedition are being slapped against people for talking against the government when the courts have made it clear that talking against the government is not equal to talking against the country.

Expressing shock over the arrest of the mother of the child of Shaheen School of Bidar for performing in a play which is said to be critical of Mr. Modi, he said that he never heard of any case where the mother of a school going child is arrested for the alleged crime of the child.

Referring to the school incident owned by RSS ideologue Kalladka Prabhakar where a play was presented on the demolition of Babri Masjid, Mr. Ganihar wondered why no case was booked and why none was sent to jail in that case.

About the reports of Gujarat government constructing a wall in Ahmedabad to hide a slum as the convoy of U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to pass by it, Mr. Ganihar said “ BJP was first saying ‘Garibi Hatao’ (remove poverty) but now it is saying ‘Garibi Chupao (hide poverty).

He said that instead of constructing a huge statue of Sadar Patel in Gujarat by spending thousands of crores, the money could have been spent to provide houses to slums dwellers in Gujarat.

Accusing the BJP government at the Centre of raising communally sensitive issues only to hide its failures in meeting the promises made in its manifesto, he said decisions such as demonetisation and GST have completely failed.

“Today, Mr. Modi never mentions the failure of demonetisation in any of his addresses through radio in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme. Because he is aware of the fact that his decision has miserably failed”, he said.

Stating that the CAA has been brought in only to divert public attention from the real issues, he said that the decision is not in the interest of the country.