By Rhea Mogul and Manveena Suri, CNN

When dozens of safety personnel crowded onto the runway of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport on Thursday, it was to not seize a terrorist or fleeing felony mastermind, and even to apprehend an unruly passenger.

It was to arrest an opposition politician who had allegedly “disturbed harmony” — by misstating the Prime Minister’s center identify.

Pawan Khera, the spokesperson for the Congress celebration, had been on his approach to his celebration’s nationwide conference when he was compelled off his aircraft and arrested by police.

His alleged crime? Disturbing communal concord by making a jibe at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he had referred to on stay TV final week as “Narendra Gautamdas Modi” in reference to embattled enterprise magnate Gautam Adani.

Adani, seen as an in depth ally of Modi and one of many wealthiest individuals on the earth, noticed his web price halved in lower than two weeks final month after a report by monetary analysis agency Hindenburg leveled allegations of inventory market manipulation and fraud in opposition to the Adani Group. The Adani Group condemned the report as “baseless” and “malicious.”

Police from the state of Assam mentioned they’d deployed a group to New Delhi to arrest Khera for questioning after a case was registered on Wednesday for his “objectionable remarks about the Prime Minister.”

“[Khera] was trying to disturb the communal harmony in society, (according to) sections of the Indian Penal Code under criminal conspiracy,” Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan, Assam police spokesperson, instructed CNN.

But the arrest of Khera has set the stage for a dramatic showdown between India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress celebration, which has accused the federal government of stiffling dissent on the earth’s largest democracy of 1.3 billion individuals.

Scores of Congress politicians responded to the arrest by sitting on the airstrip in protest. Khera was launched hours later, after India’s Supreme Court ordered him to be launched on interim bail. But his temporary detention set off a media frenzy within the nation, dominating prime time information and headlines.

Speaking to reporters after his launch on Thursday, Khera mentioned he was “asked to deplane as if I was a terrorist.”

“This is not the only example of people’s rights and liberties being curtailed. Today it’s me, tomorrow it could be anyone,” he mentioned.

Congress member Supriya Shrinate, who was touring with Khera on the time of his arrest, added, “If this isn’t tyranny, then what is?”

The Congress celebration mentioned in a statement that Khera’s arrest was “undemocratic,” and “arbitrary,” including: “We vehemently oppose this dictatorial behavior.”

“This charade is not going to deter us from raising questions” concerning the Adani group and its alleged ties to Modi, it mentioned.

CNN has contacted a BJP nationwide spokesperson for a remark however has not but had a response.

Speaking to Indian information channel NDTV late Thursday, the BJP chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, mentioned: “Police have all of the rights to arrest (Khera).

Khera’s arrest comes weeks after the nation banned a documentary from the BBC that was crucial of the Prime Minister’s alleged function in lethal riots greater than 20 years in the past. Indian tax authorities raided the BBC’s workplaces in New Delhi and Mumbai earlier this month citing “irregularities and discrepancies” within the BBC’s taxes. The BBC defended its documentary and mentioned it was complying with the tax investigation.

Days earlier than Khera’s arrest, Sarma, the Assam chief minister, had warned there could be penalties to his remarks about Modi.

“India will not forget or forgive these horrible remarks of Congressmen,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

CNN has not but been in a position to attain Khera and his legal professionals.

The-CNN-Wire
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