Priyanka Gandhi mounts attack on BJP after Hardik Patel arrested in Gujarat
Hardik Patel was booked by the Crime Branch in 2015 under sedition charges over his provocative remarks where he allegedly asked his supporters to kill the policemen rather than committing suicide for the cause of reservation.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday accused the BJP of repeatedly harassing party leader Hardik Patel after the latter was arrested on Saturday night in Gujarat for failing to appear before a trial court in a 2015 sedition case.
“The BJP is repeatedly harassing Hardik Patel, who fights for the rights of farmers and employment for youths. Hardik has raised the people’s voice, asked for jobs for them, and made demands for scholarships. He also launched a farmers’ movement. The BJP is terming all this as sedition,” Gandhi said in a tweet written in Hindi.
Patel, who had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, has been sent to judicial custody till January 24.
Patel was booked by the Crime Branch in 2015 under sedition charges over his provocative remarks where he allegedly asked his supporters to kill the policemen rather than committing suicide for the cause of reservation.
However, Patel has asserted that there is no evidence against him in the charge-sheet filed by the Crime Branch with regard to criminal conspiracy and inciting people to dislodge the government during the violent agitation that followed the gathering of Patidar community on August 25, 2015.
The quota leader was granted bail in July, 2016, and the court had, in November 2018, framed charges against him and other accused in the case.
The court also observed that Patel, who has to be cross-examined in the case, was flouting bail conditions by not remaining present regularly with the intention to delay trial.
