The Gujarat Police arrested eight Aam Aadmi Party workers on Thursday for putting up posters seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in different parts of Ahmedabad, reported PTI.
The Opposition party had launched the “Modi hatao, desh bachao” [Oust Modi, save the country] poster campaign in 11 languages across 22 states on Thursday.
In Gujarat, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is in power, several first information reports were filed against the poster campaign. The arrests were made on the charge of damaging public property by putting up posters in areas like Isanpur, Maninagar, Vatva, Narol and Vadaj of Ahmedabad, reported PTI.
Gujarat AAP chief Isudan Gadhvi wrote on Twitter that the arrests were a sign that the BJP is scared of the Opposition.
“Look at the dictatorship of BJP,” Gadhvi said. “Aam Aadmi Party workers in Gujarat have been jailed under various sections of the IPC [Indian Penal Code] in connection with the posters of ‘Modi hatao, desh bachao’. If this is not fear of Modi and BJP, then what else? Try as hard as you want! Aam Aadmi Party workers will fight.”
A similar action was carried out in Delhi last week, when the state police filed 100 first information reports and arrested six persons, including owners of two printing press, after “Modi hatao” posters were found in several areas of the national capital.
The cases were filed under under the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act as well as Section 12 of the Press and Registration of Books Act, which require every book or paper printed in the country to mention the printer’s name.
On Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party said that its poster campaign aims to highlight how the BJP is dismantling the democratic structure of the country.
“We want a new prime minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections who can target the problems faced by the public instead of targeting the Opposition and the Constitution,” AAP Delhi convener and minister Gopal Rai said.
The party in a statement claimed that its workers have been targeted in several other states because of the poster campaign.
“At many places, the police seized the posters and even detained party workers,” the statement added. “The Haryana police detained AAP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Gupta and senior leader Anurag Dhanda for some time. Similarly, in Ahmedabad, Pune and other places in Maharashtra, the police detained several AAP workers and seized their posters.”
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