51 months of unofficial emergency: Congress on Lois Sofia arrest

Slamming the Narendra Modi government over the arrest of 28-year-old Lois Sofia for allegedly shouting anti-BJP slogans, the Opposition Congress on Monday said that there was an “unofficial Emergency” in the country and urged the people of India to fight against the “unalloyed fascism” of the ruling regime.

Sofia, a research scholar in Canada was arrested on Monday for allegedly shouting "down with Modi, BJP-RSS fascist government" at Tuticorin airport on a flight in the presence of a Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Condemning the student’s arrest, Congress national spokesperson Sanjay Jha tweeted, “The official Emergency lasted 21 months. The unofficial Emergency is already 51 months old. And growing.”

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In a series of tweets, Jha further said, “Sophia versus Modi.  It is symbolic of why the ordinary citizens of India need to rise to fight against unalloyed fascism of the current government.”

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is often accused of crushing the dissent in the country. Recently, the Supreme Court, while hearing the case of controversial arrests of five Left-leaning activists, had observed that "dissent is a safety valve for democracy. If you don’t allow this safety valve, then the pressure cooker will burst."

Another Congress leader Manish Tewari, demanding the unconditional release of Sofia, compared the BJP leader’s reaction with fascists and said the “groundswell of dissent becoming a roar.”

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“Lois Sofia hit a very raw nerve when she called a spade a spade. The TN BJP President reacted to dissent just as Fascists do by imprisoning those who oppose them. Groundswell of dissent becoming A roar. Condemn her arrest and demand her unconditional release,” Tewari wrote on Twitter.