PMLA will meet the same fate as sedition law: Raut

“The sedition law has been the most abused in the last seven years. The PMLA, sedition and UAPA laws were misused to finish the political opponents. When the governments of West Bengal and Maharashtra started using this law in a legal way, the Centre came to its senses….Of course, it is a good thing. Now the PMLA will go the same way,” said Raut in his weekly column Rokhthok in party mouthpiece Saamana.

Raut further raised questions on the change in Centre’s stand in the SC on a case related to sedition law. “In 2019, when the Congress had promised not to repeal the law in its manifesto, BJP spokespersons had criticised the Congress, calling it a traitor. Now, it was PM Modi only who said that the obsolete laws of the British era should be repealed. Modi is saying that the country needs to reconsider the sedition law enacted during the period of colonial rule as it completes 75 years of independence. But, two days before this, the government had upheld the sedition law in the SC. Why is there such a difference?” asked Raut.

Referring to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s statement before the state government-appointed Chandiwal commission that section 124-A was being misused, Raut said, “Pawar spoke first and then PM Modi took up the same issue of Section 124-A…. As the BJP opponents were caught in the trap of this law, a ‘correction programme’ began in non-BJP ruled states such as West Bengal and Maharashtra, which ensured the stay of the sedition section. The PMLA law will go the same way.”