New Delhi: Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale on Saturday levelled fresh allegations on the Bharatiya Janata Party over his arrest pertaining to tweets on the Morbi bridge collapse.
The remarks were made after a local court on Friday granted bail to Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale in a case related to a tweet allegedly posted by him about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Morbi bridge collapse site.
“I was arrested on orders of BJP, got bail, re-arrested, & got bail again – all in a span of 4 days. I’m grateful to the Hon’ble judiciary for upholding my liberty. BJP is hilariously mistaken if they thought this would break me. I’m only going to come at them harder,” he tweeted.
Saket Gokhale claimed, “A frivolous case was filed for sharing a tweet made by someone else. Funnily the police have no clue who that person is. The aim was to find a way to target me, throw me into jail, and keep me there. This is the Modi & Shah textbook perfected in UP & Gujarat.”
A frivolous case was filed for sharing a tweet made by someone else. Funnily the police have no clue who that person is.
The aim was to find a way to target me, throw me into jail, and keep me there.
This is the Modi & Shah textbook perfected in UP & Gujarat.
(3/8)
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) December 10, 2022
“Ironically I was arrested twice in 3 days for a tweet about Morbi bridge collapse. And till date, the owners of Oreva company who built the faulty bridge haven’t even been named in an FIR let alone arrested. Modi is hurt by a tweet. Not by deaths of 135 innocent people,” the TMC leader remarked.
In subsequent tweets, he also attacked the Election Commission of India for a complaint alleging “electoral interference” by him.
The 2nd complaint in Morbi was filed against me on behalf of BJP’s ally Election Commission.
Surprisingly, the case for “electoral interference” was filed after polling for both phases was over.
EC, however, is ok with communal speeches & roadshows by Modi on poll day.
(5/8)
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) December 10, 2022
He then went on to thank the TMC leadership, including supremo Mamata Banerjee, for their support amid his arrests.
Gokhale was first arrested on Tuesday by Ahmedabad cyber crime police in the case for allegedly spreading fake news, and after he got bail on Thursday, Morbi police arrested him for the same offence.
On Friday, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate D K Chandrani granted bail to Gokhale on a bail bond of Rs 15,000 in the second case, news agency PTI reported.
On December 1, Gokhale shared a news clipping that cited a purported Right to Information query to claim that PM Modi’s visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse tragedy on October 30 cost Rs 30 crore.
On Tuesday morning, the Press Information Bureau tweeted that the information was fake. The purported news clipping appeared to be from a local Gujarati newspaper.
The Prime Minister had visited the Morbi hospital on November 1, a day after the colonial-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river in Morbi town collapsed, leaving 135 people dead.
TMC Letter To EC Over Arrest, Questions Charges Under RP Act
The TMC wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner, demanding an inquiry into the actions of the Gujarat Police over the arrest of the party spokesperson, alleging he was being “falsely implicated”.
The TMC asked why Gokhale was being charged under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which relates to promoting enmity between classes in connection with an election.
“We would urge you to order an immediate inquiry into the action initiated by the Gujarat Police by falsely implicating Saket Gokhale and to put an end to all such physical, mental harassment inflicted upon him, not to speak of the loss of social and political reputation he is having in the eye of the people. We would also request you to take appropriate action against the police officials who would be found guilty in perpetrating such ghastly show of muscle power by misusing the provisions of RP Act in the manner epitomized above,” the letter stated, as quoted by PTI.
The letter mentioned that the TMC leader Gokhale did not committed any offence in connection with any election for which provisions under section 125 of RP Act, 1951 can be levelled against him.
The party also questioned why section 125 of the RP Act, 1951 was not raised when Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma reportedly “preached and fanned communalism and hatred towards religious minorities while campaigning in the recently held Assembly Election in Gujarat” or against Paresh Rawal, ex-MP of the BJP, who “preached hatred against the Bengali community while campaigning in the run up of Gujarat Assembly election”.
(With Agency Inputs)
