Delhi Police arrested climate activist Disha Ravi, 22, from her house in Bengaluru in connection with the 'Toolkit' on farmer protests for questioning, on 13 February 2021. She has been remanded to police custody for five days. Facebook/Disha Ravi
By Ashok Sharma | AP
NEW DELHI, India, 14 February 2021
An Indian climate activist has been arrested for circulating a document on social media that allegedly incited protesting farmers to turn violent last month, leaving one protester dead and about 400 police officers injured during clashes in the Indian capital, police said Sunday.
Disha Ravi, 22, was arrested in the southern city of Bengaluru and appeared in a New Delhi court on Sunday, New Delhi police said in a statement.
The court sent her to police custody for five days to help in an investigation “into the criminal conspiracy related to the Toolkit document” that allegedly incited the farmers on 26 January, India’s Republic Day, police said.
Thousands of farmers stormed New Delhi’s historic Red Fort complex that day, posing a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. Farmers demanding the repeal of new agricultural laws briefly took over the 17th century fort and hoisted a Sikh religious flag.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned “vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda” after pop star Rihanna, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and Meena Harris, the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, tweeted their support to the farmers on 3 February.
The Indian government says the new laws are necessary to modernize Indian farming.
The farmers say the laws will benefit corporations and leave them at their mercy for negotiating prices for their crops. Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of New Delhi since the last week of November.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are petulant and paranoid demagogues. I have never seen such creatures as the leaders of this wonderful nation of India. The BJP is historically known for communal politics but these two have taken it way beyond our imagination.
They are dividing the nation on Hindu and non-Hindus basis especially pits Hindus against Muslims in the name of Ram Temple.
The Farmer’s Movement has given them a jolt and they have no clue to solve this issue. It’s so large that it’s beyond their capacity to control it with brute force of the State police apparatus.
So, they are trying to implicate the Movement with Khalistan to demonise them. It’s a very dangerous and foolhardy tactic. It will backfire badly. In their attempt to portray the FM as Khalistanis, they arrested Disha Ravi who shared Greta’s alleged toolkit by accusing her as a Khalistani!!
She is from Karnataka State and therefore a Kannada not a Sikh. Khalistanis are Sikhs who are fighting for a seperate State for Punjab. How does this tally with the accusation of the Government? Does this make sense?
The climate activist is only sharing her hero Greta’s toolkit to support the farmers and not Khalistanis. The farmer’s movement has worldwide support including India’s Kamala Harris’s niece!
The Karnataka Government failed to protect its own citizen, especially a vulnerable 22 year old by allowing the corrupt Delhi police to virtually kidnap her behind their backs. This is totally unacceptable to the people of Kannada who are proud of their State.
The Karnataka Government must intervene on Disha Riva’s behalf and bring her home to Bangalore. She is made a scape goat like Rhea Chakraborty was when Sushant Singh committed suicide to suit the BJP’s electoral prospects.