Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has the ‘gall to tell people they have nothing to fear’ when Section 144 was imposed in Mr. Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi on ‘359 out of 365 days’.
Under the Indian Penal Code, Section 144 prohibits an assembly of more than four persons in an area and empowers the local administration to act against any assembly when the section is in force in a particular area.
“On 359 out of 365 days in the year 2019, Section 144 was imposed in Varanasi town the PM’s own constituency and he has the gall to say that people have nothing to fear,” Ms. Vadra tweeted, and tagged The Hindu ground report from Varanasi published on Thursday morning.
The report had mentioned how the political and cultural discourse around the city’s landmark spots like the Pappu tea stall near the Assi Ghat chowk had almost disappeared.
Explaining the phenomenon, Rajat Kumar, a student of the Banaras Hindu University who had refused to accept his Master’s degree in protest against the amended citizenship law or the proposed national register of citizens, had said,“In the 365 days of 2019, section 144 was imposed for 359 days. How can one feel free and safe to speak one’s mind?”
