SC’s Sedition Stay: While Opposition Celebrates ‘Victory’, BJP Leaders Respond With Caution

Opposition parties welcomed the interim order putting the sedition law in abeyance unequivocally.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s interim order restricting the Union and state governments from taking coercive measures under the contentious sedition law until the time it is being reviewed by the Union government was welcomed by opposition parties, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party responded with caution.

Although research has shown that the BJP governments both at the Centre and states have used the colonial-era law increasingly over the last few years against critics and opposition activists, the Narendra Modi-led Union government agreed to the fact that sedition law is prone to being misused.

Most BJP leaders responded to the court’s order without making their views clear. While evading a question about his take on the Supreme Court’s order, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju inscrutably said, “We (the courts and the government) respect each other, the court should respect government, legislature, so as government should also respect court. We have clear demarcation of boundary and that Lakshman Rekha should not be crossed by anybody.”

“We’ve made our positions very clear and also informed the court about the intention of our PM (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). We respect the court and its independence. But there’s a ‘Lakshman Rekha’ that must be respected by all organs of the state in letter and spirit. We have to ensure that we respect the provisions of the Indian Constitution as well as existing laws,” the law minister said.

Rijiju’s response indicates that the Supreme Court order putting the sedition law in abeyance may have caused a bit of discomfort to the BJP-led Union government, which has earned a reputation of slapping the most stringent charges under laws like sedition, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and others disproportionately against critics.

However, other opposition parties welcomed the interim order unequivocally.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted to appreciate fellow Congressman Kapil Sibal who argued the case on the behalf of petitioners.

Chief spokesperson of the Congress Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the order as “historic”.

“Supreme Court has sent a clear message. Suppressors & subjugators sitting in citadels of power be forewarned – Free Speech will not be throttled by autocrats & dictators masquerading as rulers. Speaking truth to power can’t be sedition and status quo will change,” he tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed also hoped that the order may come as a respite to political prisoners who have been slapped with sedition charges.

One of the petitioners against the law and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra credited her lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayan for the “victory” at the court, and said that May 11 was a “great day for democracy”.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that his party has always opposed the archaic law, as it thought the law is “anachronistic, brought in by the British to crush our freedom struggle”

“It (Section 124 (A)) has no place in the statute books of independent India,” he said.

However, he added that “the plea of the government that it will review the cases under sedition law is specious”. “The Modi government has been misusing the law to harass all dissenters. 326 people were arrested under the sedition law during the Modi regime and only 6 of them were convicted by the courts. This is how the law is being misused. This law must be scrapped. We hope the SC would do this when it resumes hearing in July,” Yechury said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha also welcomed the order and said that the Supreme Court has raised hopes of those people who are in prison under charges of sedition for hitting out at the government.

“The temporary restriction on the use of sedition law is welcome. Over the last few years, sedition law has increasingly been used against critics. Many of us felt that the authorities while putting the sedition law to use equated criticisms against governments with criticisms against the country….Today’s SC’s order has clearly given the impression that such an equivalence is misplaced,” he said.

Several jurists, institutions, advocates, journalists, civil liberties’ activists and social scientists also believed that the order temporarily restricting the use of the sedition law should open up ways to scrap the archaic law.

The Editors Guild of India put out a statement welcoming the decision. The Guild has been of the view that use of sedition against journalists in recent times was meant to impede independent reporting, and is one of the petitioners in the case..